House of Commons Commission

High Speed 2 Line: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Grahame Morris: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of parliamentary scrutiny of sections of HS2 that have since been cancelled.

Sir Charles Walker: The table below outlines an estimate of the cost to the public purse of parliamentary scrutiny of sections of HS2 that have since been cancelled. The costs of committee visits, the transcription of committee hearings, reports by the Independent Assessor and additional staffing have all been taken into account. Select Committee on the High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) BillSelect Committee on the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) BillCommittee visits£2,620£4,006.89Transcription of Committee hearings£54,313£24,811.50Reports of the Independent Assessor£184,760.58£175,712.40StaffingN/A£184,826Total£241,693.58£389,356.79 £631,050.37   Under Private Business Standing Order 224A(6)(a)(ii) (‘Comments on environmental statements’), the examiner of petitions for private bills is required to appoint an independent assessor to produce a report on responses to the public consultation on an environmental statement.Three reports were published by the independent assessor on the High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Act 2021, relating to consultations held on the Environmental Statement, the Supplementary Environmental Statement which accompanied Additional Provision 1, and the Supplementary Environmental Statement which accompanied Additional Provision 2.Two reports have so far been published by the independent assessor on the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill, relating to consultations held on the Environmental Statement and the Supplementary Environmental Statement 1 and Additional Provision 1 Environmental Statement.Under Private Business Standing Order 224A(10), the costs of the process of appointing an independent assessor, incurred by the House, shall be reimbursed by the government.

Cabinet Office

Suella Braverman

Justin Madders: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the letter of 14 November 2023 to the Prime Minister from the rt hon. member for Fareham, if the Prime Minister will publish the document with clear terms agreed in October 2022 referred to in that letter.

Alex Burghart: Senior politicians will routinely discuss policy priorities with colleagues during a party leadership election. The Prime Minister has set out his priorities to tackle illegal and legal migration.

Electronic Government: Proof of Identity

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on the (a) development and (b) implementation of the GOV.UK One Login.

Alex Burghart: The GOV.UK One Login programme’s total budget for the three years from 2022/23 to 2024/25 is £305.4 million. Of this, the programme is forecasting expenditure of £132.7m on the development and roll out of the system by the end of the current financial year.Over 1.5 million users have successfully used GOV.UK One Login to access services. The programme will help save over £700 million over the next three years, as well as people’s time and effort.

Electronic Government: Proof of Identity

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, published on 28 September 2023, whether it remains his policy to expand customer and technical support operations to facilitate the scaling up of gov.uk UK One Login.

Alex Burghart: The GOV.UK One Login programme has recently expanded its customer support offering with the launch of a contact centre to provide real-time multi-channel assistance to users. Alongside this, One Login will shortly roll out an enhanced technical service desk to provide round-the-clock monitoring and technical support. Both of these initiatives will be scaled up over time as more government services and users onboard to GOV.UK One Login.

Electronic Government: Proof of Identity

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Government services that will use the GOV.UK One Login (a) before and (b) after 2025.

Alex Burghart: In line with the programme’s agreed scope, we are on track to onboard at least 145 services to GOV.UK One Login by the end of 2024/25. We are working closely with departments to identify further services for onboarding as part of the programme’s longer-term roadmap beyond March 2025.

Question

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the level of poverty among veterans.

Johnny Mercer: This Government is committed to supporting all households, including veterans, with the cost of living.Veterans who are particularly vulnerable to increased living costs are likely to be eligible for targeted cost of living support payments, including the £150 disability cost of living payment, in addition to accessing targeted welfare and cost of living support, including the Energy Price Guarantee.For the first time, a veteran marker has been included in the national Census which will transform our understanding of employment, finance, housing and other related priorities among veterans and their families.We are also taking action to further support veterans, their families and communities across the UK. This includes Op FORTITUDE, the dedicated referral scheme for veterans facing homelessness and rough sleeping, which is part of a broader £8.55 million of funding for specialist help and wrap-around support for veterans in more than 900 supported housing units; the £20 million Veterans Capital Housing Fund, supporting projects which contribute towards extra housing for veterans through new builds and refurbishment of existing social and charitable housing; the £700,000 Veterans Career Development Fund, supporting projects which enable access for veterans and their families to qualifications and training to secure, sustainable, valuable employment; and an Independent Review of HMG Welfare Services for Veterans.

Veterans: Radiation Exposure

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to invite all Nuclear Test Veteran charities to a reception in November 2023.

Johnny Mercer: The Government is committed to recognising the contributions of Nuclear Test Veterans.That is why the Prime Minister announced the creation of the Nuclear Test Medal in November 2022, and the government delivered on its promise that those veterans who had applied would receive their medals in time for Remembrance Sunday.I am delighted to confirm that I will be hosting a reception on 28 November for a small cohort of the first veteran recipients of the medal. Due to limited capacity, we have prioritised inviting veterans in order to honour and recognise the contribution of those who served at the time.

Electronic Government: Proof of Identity

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Government departments have made an adoption strategy and roadmap for the GOV.UK One Login.

Alex Burghart: The One Login programme has agreed an adoption roadmap with 15 major government departments, in line with the commitment in the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data.

Government Departments: Digital Technology

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, published on 28 September 2023, what is included within the service performance framework developed by the Central Digital and Data Office.

Alex Burghart: In its 2022-2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data, the Government committed that by 2025, at least 50 of government’s top 75 identified services will move to a ‘great’ standard, against a consistent measure of service performance.The framework, developed by the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) in the Cabinet Office, in consultation with departments, has quantitative and qualitative elements to assess the end-to-end service, and focuses on usability, efficiency, and compliance. The metrics used to measure these are:Usability:Digital adoption - proportion of transactions completed onlineDigital completion - proportion that are start online are completedUser satisfaction - proportion of users that are satisfiedEfficiency:Cost per transaction - the cost to provide the service including staffing, technology and operational costsCompliance:Accessibility - whether it meets legal accessibility requirementsThese quantitative measures are consistently assessed using a benchmark of government services and industry standards to provide a robust assessment. Additional data and context can be included through qualitative assessment to ensure a complete and accurate assessment. Further information on the framework has been published athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-for-a-digital-future-governments-2022-to-25-roadmap-for-digital-and-data/transforming-for-a-digital-future-governments-2022-to-25-roadmap-for-digital-and-data#the-six-missions

National Security: Procurement

Pat McFadden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the planned timeline is for implementing the National Security Unit for Procurement within his Department; and who will be responsible for leading that unit.

Alex Burghart: The National Security Unit for Procurement, based in the Cabinet Office, will investigate suppliers who may pose a risk to national security and assess whether companies should be barred from public procurements. The Unit was announced as part of stepped up measures to protect national security in government contracts, and will be operational in time for commencement of the Procurement Act in Autumn 2024, when debarment and exclusion powers come into effect.

Government Departments: Databases

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the potential (a) environmental and (b) economic impact of the use by Government departments of data storage contracts signed since 2015.

Alex Burghart: The Central Digital and Data Office, in the Cabinet Office, does not hold a specific estimate of the environmental and economic impact of data storage contracts.Improving sustainability is a commitment within the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, and a requirement within the Technology Code of Practice, which is a set of criteria to help government design, build and buy technology.Data storage requirements across departments will not solely be met through specific contracts for these services; they will be met through capital purchase of hardware and through agreements for broader services, such as the provision of cloud platforms, or of software-as-a-service solutions.

Ministry of Defence

AUKUS

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has met with his (a) Australian and (b) US counterparts to discuss AUKUS since his appointment.

James Cartlidge: The Secretary of State for Defence continues to work well with his US and Australian counterparts on AUKUS. Last month, our Secretary of State met with the US Secretary for Defense, Lloyd Austin; while earlier this month he visited Rolls-Royce's nuclear reactor manufacturing site in Derby alongside the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the out of service date of the British Army's Snatch Land Rover vehicles is.

James Cartlidge: The Out of Service Date for the Snatch Land Rover is currently March 2024; however, an extension to this date is being sought.

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much from the public purse his Department has spent on external legal counsel on the Ajax programme since 2010.

James Cartlidge: Since 2010, the Ministry of Defence has paid £873,689.12 to the Government Legal Department and £110,072.53 to Slaughter & May LLP.

Devonport Dockyard: Repairs and Maintenance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's expected timescale is for the completion of work to upgrade the infrastructure at HMNB Devonport.

James Cartlidge: The Submarine Waterfront Infrastructure Future (SWIF) programme is investing in infrastructure at Devonport to support the maintenance of the Royal Navy's Astute Class submarines. The facilities being provided include a new non-tidal maintenance berth in 5 Basin, a refurbished 10 Dock and supporting buildings and services. The work for the SWIF Programme is due to be complete in 2027.

Army: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 18 of the policy paper entitled Land Industrial Strategy, published on 18 May 2022, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Army's through-life capability roadmaps align with target export markets.

James Cartlidge: The Army’s Through Life Platform Management Plans adhere to the Land Industrial Strategy, including the requirement to consider exportability. Cross-government Land export activity is coordinated by the Land Capability Campaigns Office, which the MOD has established in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade.

Ministry of Defence: Technology

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 21 of his Department's Land Industrial Strategy, published on 18 May 2022, what the cost of spending by his Department on Land domain system technologies relating to advanced materials science, survivability and protection was in the (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23 financial year.

James Cartlidge: Due to the wide scope of the question, it is taking time to collate all the relevant information. I will write to the Right Hon. Member as soon as practical and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Army: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Land Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the (a) progress made towards enhancing and (b) effectiveness of steps taken to enhance (i) social value outcomes and (ii) skills development in the defence sector.

James Cartlidge: The Land Industrial Strategy Objectives Framework, currently being finalised by the Department, considers social value outcomes, including skills development in the Defence sector.

Land Enterprise Working Group

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what dates the Land Enterprise Working Group has met.

James Cartlidge: To date, the Land Enterprise Working Group has met on 17 March 2023, 17 July 2023 and 15 November 2023.

Sloane Helicopters: Contracts

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2023 to Question 117 on Sloane Helicopters: Clacton-on-Sea, whether the Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport contract with Sloane Helicopters which was due to expire on 30 September 2023 has been extended.

James Cartlidge: Yes, it has been.

Army: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made towards (a) developing and (b) adopting the Land Industrial Strategy Objectives Framework.

James Cartlidge: Good progress has been made on development of the Land Industrial Strategy Objectives Framework, which is currently being finalised by the Department.

Army: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 28 of the Land Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish the 20 year comprehensive investment plan.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 20 November 2023, to Question 1042.Army (docx, 14.8KB)

Air Force: Sexual Offences

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cases of (a) sexual assault, (b) sexual harassment, and (c) rape have resulted in criminal sentences for perpetrators following reported incidents involving armed forces personnel serving at RAF colleges in each of last five years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: During the last five years, the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) dealt with fewer than five cases of sexual offences resulting in a court martial for an alleged perpetrator based at Royal Air Force Colleges that resulted in a conviction.There were no convictions at court martial relating to rape during the same period.Sexual harassment is not an offence under civil or military law, although there is a policy of zero tolerance to any form of unacceptable sexual behaviour in the Armed Forces.The numbers above relate only to cases with charges directed by the SPA and where the defendant's unit was recorded as being RAF College Cranwell or RAF Halton, all of which undertake Phase 1 training. They do not take account of defendants who may be linked to other units.

Ministry of Defence: ICT

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the total expenditure on his Department's digital transformation programme.

James Cartlidge: As stated in Footnote 14 of the National Audit Office’s report entitled ‘The Digital Strategy for Defence: A review of early implementation’, Defence will spend £1.360 billion on digital transformation in the period financial years 2022-23 to 2031-32.

Defence: Employment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to promote growth in high-end skilled employment in the defence sector.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works closely with Other Government Departments, Industry, and academia to grow skills nationally, and to address specific Defence and Security needs to attract, nurture, and develop relevant skills to meet the demands and opportunities across a strong sector. The People and Skills Steering Group within the joint MOD-Industry Defence Suppliers Forum has recently refreshed its commitment to the Defence Enterprise. As set out in the Defence Command Paper Refresh published on 18 July 2023, the Department is supporting skills development across major programmes and supply chains that stretch right across the UK. The National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh takes a cross-Government approach for all nations of the UK to ensure our shipbuilding sector has the skills it needs for both the immediate and the long term. In the air sector, the number of skilled people working on the Global Combat Air Programme is growing rapidly, with 3,000 people now working on it across MOD and UK industry partners. Sustaining and advancing these skills is key to ensuring a cutting-edge Combat Air sector for decades to come.

Ministry of Defence: Contracts

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many open competitions his Department is running.

James Cartlidge: Open competitions have been interpreted as ITTs (Invitations to tender) where either any supplier can participate, or be invited to participate. Using this criteria there are 93 ITTs currently open and accepting tenders.

Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193273 on Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries, whether his Department's expenditure on P&O Ferries services between 17 March 2022 and 1 July 2023 were recorded in the departmental returns for expenditure over £500 using a government procurement card; and whether his Department used a government procurement card on (a) support of operational movement services or (b) business travel with P&O Ferries since 2 July 2023.

James Cartlidge: In accordance with Ministry of Defence (MOD) transparency policy, all GPC (Government Procurement Card) payments over £500 in value are published monthly on gov.uk; this includes any payments made to P&O.Between 2 July 2023 and 15 November 2023, the MOD made payments of £91,449 directly with P&O using GPC cards primarily for freight movements (this includes operational and freight movements by the National Movement Coordination Centre (Army)), and a further £45,751 was spent through GBT, the MOD's contracted travel management company, primarily for business travel. Transactions over £500 are subject to the above transparency process.

Submarines: Dockyards

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of procuring a submarine floating dock.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence has conducted an assessment on its docking needs. This assessment has identified that two floating docks are required to enhance the out of water maintenance capability and meet future demand for submarine maintenance at His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde.

Submarines: Dockyards

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the report published by the NAO  entitled The Equipment Plan 2022 to 2032, HC 907, published 29 November 2022, whether his Department plans to procure a submarine floating dock.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence has conducted an assessment on its docking needs. This assessment has identified that two floating docks are required to enhance the out of water maintenance capability and meet future demand for submarine maintenance at His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde. Market engagement has recently commenced to better understand the delivery strategy required to procure floating docks and the associated infrastructure necessary to create an additional out of water maintenance capability.

Falkland Islands: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent in (a) resource departmental expenditure limit and (b) capital departmental expenditure limit  on supporting the Falkland Islands Defence Force protection of the sovereignty of the Islands in each year since 2010.

James Heappey: Funding for the Falkland Island Defence Force (FIDF) does not come from Ministry of Defence (MOD), therefore MOD has paid £0 in RDEL and CDEL costs for FIDF each year since 2010.

Ukraine: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has allocated towards Operation Interflex in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

James Heappey: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 October 2022 to Question 65593.Ukraine: Military Aid (docx, 23.5KB)

Ukraine: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel his Department is forecast to train in 2024 as part of Operation Interflex.

James Heappey: We continue to work closely with Ukraine, as well as wider Allies and partners, to understand Ukraine's training requirements and how we can best work together to meet them. The UK is committed to continuing to be a leader in the provision of training to Ukraine throughout 2024.

RAF Aldergrove

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) expanding RAF operations in addition to the Joint Helicopter Flying Station Aldergrove and (b) re-establishing RAF Aldergrove at Belfast International Airport.

James Heappey: The RAF continually assesses its basing footprint based on operational needs. The RAF is embarked upon a significant programme of investment across its Estate to ensure that it meets the demands of its future activity. Based on operational priorities, the increased use of Aldergrove Flying Station does not currently feature within the RAF's plans for future basing. Should operational demands change, the RAF will ensure all viable options are considered as part of any future review.

Armed Forces: Military Exercises

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) multinational and (b) bilateral training exercises involved UK Armed Forces personnel in each year since 2010; and if he will list the regions those exercises took place in.

James Heappey: It is taking time to collate the information. I will write to the right hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Cyprus and Oman: Military Bases

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many troops have been moved to UK military bases in (a) Cyprus and (b) Oman since 7 October 2023.

James Heappey: Since 7 October 2023, there has been an increase of approximately 1,000 Service personnel deployed to the Sovereign Base Areas on the island of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean to support contingency planning and humanitarian objectives across the region. This figure remains under review.No additional military personnel have been deployed to Oman, beyond those taking part in planned activity.

Armed Forces: Deployment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled PM accelerates military support to Northern Europe following visit to Sweden, published on 13 October 2023, how many UK troops he plans to deploy on rotation at any one time in Northern Europe; and for how long he plans those rotational deployments to last.

James Heappey: The total number of Armed Forces personnel to be deployed in northern Europe in 2024 is expected to exceed 20,000 over the course of the year. Over 17,000 Armed Forces personnel are currently planned to participate in NATO exercise STEADFAST DEFENDER from January to June 2024. Ex STEADFAST DEFENDER involves the participation of the UK Carrier Strike Group, the Littoral Response Group (North) in the North Atlantic, North Sea, and Norway; and complementary land and air activity across Northern Europe. This is a tangible demonstration of the UK's commitment to the defence and security of northern Europe, and enhanced interoperability with our key Allies and partners. In addition, there will be a number of smaller-scale exercises and operations which vary in geography and time over the course of the second half of the year. These details are still being refined as part of the planning process.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the longest outstanding Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy application is that is awaiting assessment by his Department.

James Heappey: The longest outstanding ARAP application awaiting an eligibility decision was submitted on 8 April 2021.  This case relates to an individual who will likely be ineligible as a consequence of misconduct. This case has been deprioritised because we know the individual is safely in a European third country.

Army

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to increase (a) transparency in costings, (b) risk ownership, and (c) commercialisation of ideas to support the development of land industrial operating service arrangements.

James Cartlidge: The Land Industrial Operating Services programme is being developed with the objectives of the Land Industrial Strategy at its core. It seeks to bring together maintenance and engineering services to improve platform availability and through-life performance of Land equipment. The programme team are engaging in a comprehensive concept phase to understand the most appropriate enterprise model, building on lessons from similar ventures in the other Services. Considerations include clearer risk ownership, greater transparencies on costs and through life equipment plans, and incentives to develop and commercialise ideas through a more regular cycle of updates and upgrades.

Army: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Land Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that land procurement programmes contribute at least 20% to social value policy outcomes.

James Cartlidge: The Land Industrial Strategy Objectives Framework, currently being finalised by the Department, has been developed to ensure that approval of the Business Cases for future Army equipment programmes ensure a 20% weighting in evaluation of criteria linked to social and industrial value outcomes.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to table one and corresponding note five of his Department's publication MOD trade industry and contracts data tables 2023, published on 28 September 2023, for what reason the forecast costs of the Mechanised Infantry Vehicles project rose by an additional £449.56 million on top of £93.44 million to deliver an additional 100 Boxer Vehicles compared to the previous year.

James Cartlidge: The additional £449.56 million forecast cost to the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle programme is a result of the increase in scope to enhance and uplift the fleet sizes and capabilities, as set out in the Defence Command Plan (2021).This includes funding for the additional initial 100 vehicles which are now on contract, with further funding also provisioned for an additional tranche.

Ministry of Defence: Contracts

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many single-source contracts his Department is negotiating.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence does not comment on contracts under negotiation. 1,030 new single source contracts were signed in fnancial year 2022-23, which is the last full year for which figures are available.

BAE Systems: Ammunition

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the contract with BAE Systems to provide small arms munitions announced on 14 November 2023, whether the funding for this contract will be drawn from the £2 billion commitment to replenish stockpiles announced in the Spring Budget 2023.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the contract with BAE Systems to provide small arms munitions announced on 14 November 2023, what is the total volume of ammunition that will be procured through this contract.

James Cartlidge: It is taking time to collate the information. I will write to the right hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the procurement of P&O Ferries’ services by his Department.

James Cartlidge: No recent discussions have taken place between myself and the Secretary of State for Transport concerning the Ministry of Defence's use of P&O Ferries' services.

Prime Minister: Aviation

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the statement in the Answer of 14 September 2023 to Question 197421 on Prime Minister: Aviation that nine of the eleven domestic taskings were completed on G-ZAHS, which taskings that included in addition to flying the Prime Minister from Northolt to (a) Inverness on 13 January and (b) Manchester on 3 April 2023.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the right hon. Member to my answer of 15 November 2023, to Question 119. Prime Minister - Aviation (docx, 14.9KB)

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme: Charities

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many charities were consulted as part of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Quinquennial Review 2022-23.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 16 November 2023 to Question 1753.

Ministry of Defence: Civil Servants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Statistics on Civil Service employment by Department and agency are published by the Office for National Statistics on gov.uk at the following link:www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetableStatistics for Defence and its agencies can be found at Table 9 for each quarter.It is important to note that the structure of Ministry of Defence has changed significantly since 2011, meaning that figures for that year are not directly comparable.

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure the AJAX project meets its in-service date.

James Cartlidge: Ministry of Defence and General Dynamics are working collaboratively to a revised joint schedule with the signing of a formal contract amendment in September 2023. We continue to build confidence through Reliability Growth Trials (RGT), which are progressing well and are stress testing the platform and components through a series of battlefield missions.

Guided Weapons: Costs

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the unit cost of a Brimstone missile.

James Cartlidge: I am withholding the unit cost of a Brimstone Missile as disclosure may prejudice both commercial and operational interests.

Weapons

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of using the same weapons across the three services.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence is continually assessing the merits of cross-Service use of weapons with the relevant Capability Directors. Indeed, the purpose of the Strategic Programmes Complex Weapon portfolio includes exploiting such opportunities. Examples include: the Thales Light-Weight Modular Missile with the Army for Ground-based Air Defence and the Royal Navy in its Anti-Ship Guided Weapon role; MBDA's Brimstone missile - already on Typhoon - will be embodied on Protector, and is being assessed by the Army in the Mounted Close Combat Overwatch role; and the Future Cruise / Anti-Ship Weapon supports the RAF's and Royal Navy's long-range strike requirement.

Ministry of Defence: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.

James Cartlidge: The following table includes the number of lost or stolen devices in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in the last year. The recording system does not differentiate between losses and thefts and so the numbers are amalgamated. Type of deviceNumber lost / stolen 9 Nov 2022 - 9 Nov 2023Laptops185Mobile phones98Memory Sticks30External hard drives70 The costs for replacing items is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Army

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 12 of the Land Industrial Strategy, what his planned timetable is for publishing a comprehensive 20-year investment plan for land capabilities.

James Cartlidge: As outlined in the Land Industrial Strategy, the Army is committed to ensuring industry is kept up to date on the Army’s approach to its strategic balance of investment, with a brief just taking place on 15 November and the next brief scheduled for November 2023 and January 2024. These routine updates will continue to ensure our industry partners understand any changes resulting from departmental budget and planning cycles.

Army: Vehicles

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he is taking steps to reduce the (a) complexity of and (b) variation within the armed forces' land fleet.

James Cartlidge: The developing outputs for Defence require a coherent, rationalised and efficient Land Fleet, founded on the principle of a flexible and responsive Armed Forces, fit for the 2030s and beyond. This will be delivered under a framework centred around a smaller number of core base platforms that are characterised by extensive commonality, adaptability and interoperability.By 2035, the Army aims to rationalise the current 35 core land military platforms down to 15 platform families that are modular, connected, and adaptable, with redundant equipment sold or disposed.

Devonport Dockyard

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of dock capacity at HM Naval Base Devonport.

James Cartlidge: Work is ongoing to understand the demand for dock capacity at HM Naval Base Devonport. Modelling, technical and feasibility studies are underway to examine both the future demand for nuclear licenced docks and the infrastructure capability to meet that demand.

Roll-on Roll-off Ships

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the UK’s military sealift capability.

James Cartlidge: A full review of the Strategic Sea Lift capability was undertaken against specific Defence Scenarios as part of this year’s Command Capability Assessment Register return and the Defence Capability Assessment Register return. It was found that the current contracted solution meets Defence’s Statement of Minimum Requirement.

Veterans: Identity Cards

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when phase two of the Veteran's Recognition Scheme will be completed.

Dr Andrew Murrison: As of October 2023, there have been over 75,000 cards issued as part of phase 1. Phase 2 refers to the launch of the service for pre-2018 veterans to verify their status and receive a card. The Government remains committed to delivering the card to every veteran who wants one, and since this summer, has been engaging with thousands of veterans to test the service. We will now begin issuing hundreds of cards per day over the next month and produce thousands of cards for pre-2018 veterans before the end of 2023. Depending on the volume of applications received, we expect production to increase over the course of 2024 towards a maximum output capacity of around 50,000 cards per month. Once launched, the service will remain live for all veterans who want a card to apply at any time in the future, and cards will continue to be issued automatically to Service leavers. Details of when all veterans will be able to apply for a card will be issued in due course.

Military Attachés

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department takes to facilitate meetings between UK Defence Attaches.

James Heappey: Regional meetings with our Defence Attachés (DAs) are held annually around the world. In addition, throughout the year, meetings on various defence policy issues are held in London to which individual DAs may attend in person or via audio/video conferencing. Ministers, officials and Service personnel are also briefed by our attachés when visiting the countries to which they are accredited.

Astute Class Submarines: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to announce the in-service date forecast for the Astute Boats 4-7 project.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to announce the in-service date forecast for the Dreadnought project.

James Cartlidge: The planned in-service dates for Royal Navy submarines are withheld as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of the Armed Forces.

Defence: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to prevent (a) cost adjustments and (b) delays in major projects.

James Cartlidge: Defence delivers some of the most complex major programmes in government. The Department is committed to driving greater pace and agility through meaningful reform of our acquisition system. A crucial aspect of our reformed system will be a shift towards 'spiral' development - prioritising delivery of the 80% solution to get capability in the hands of our service personnel more quickly, and then adapt it rapidly to the changing environment. We are also providing better access to expert advice early in the programme lifecycle to support improved cost estimating and scheduling and tackle optimism bias, to set programmes up for success. Our major programmes are subject to regular review and challenge, both internally and by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, to identify issues early and apply senior intervention where needed to get programmes back on track for delivery.

Clyde Naval Base

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the status of the shiplift facility at HM Naval Base Clyde.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I am unable to confirm the status of the shiplift at His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde as to do so could, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability and effectiveness of our Armed Forces.

Department of Health and Social Care

Health Visitors

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department holds data on the number of health visits carried out per local authority in each of the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

General Practitioners: Medical Records

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of GP practices do not provide access to health records through the NHS app.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dentistry: Migrant Workers

Dr Thérèse Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists from overseas were registered in (a) 2022, (b) between 1 January and 7 March 2023 and (c) since 8 March 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

HIV Infection: Ethnic Groups

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to provide effective HIV (a) testing, (b) treatment and (c) counselling services for the black community.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Standards

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the quality of care for the elderly in care homes.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fit and Proper Persons Requirement Review

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made implementing the recommendations of the Kark Review into the Fit and Proper Person Test.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dental Services: Fees and Charges

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to (a) produce and (b) publish a strategy to reduce the cost of dentistry.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Health Visitors

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many health visitors have worked in the NHS on average in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Stephenson: The information is based on the monthly National Health Service workforce statistics published by NHS England available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statisticsThe data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and other core NHS organisations and will therefore exclude staff directly employed by primary care, general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers.Local authorities have been responsible for commissioning health visiting services since 2015. These services may be commissioned from NHS trusts as well as other providers.We do not hold staffing information for non-NHS providers.

Members: Correspondence

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to respond to the email of 19 September 2023 to the Prime Minister from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton on the Care Supporters Bill.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department replied to the honourable gentleman on 17 November 2023.

Out-patients: Attendance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment NHS England has made of the main reasons for which outpatient appointments have been missed in the last 12 months.

Andrew Stephenson: Rates of missed appointments and the causes of these can vary substantially between providers and local areas. NHS England provides guidance on common reasons for did not attends (DNAs) and how providers should seek to understand the local reasons behind these. This guidance is available at the following link:   https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reducing-did-not-attends-dnas-in-outpatient-services/

Medical Records: Databases

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of NHS trusts that do not have a fully-functioning system of digital patient records as of 15 November 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: At present, there are twenty-one National Health Service secondary care trusts in England that do not have an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, a proportion of 10%. Of these trusts, four are developing business cases for EPR systems, twelve trusts are actively procuring an EPR solution, with the remaining five trusts implementing and embedding procured systems. The Government's 2023 mandate for NHS England set a target for 90% of NHS trusts to have an EPR system in place by December 2023, which has now been met. By March 2026, the ambition remains that complete coverage of all NHS trusts will be achieved.

NHS: Managers

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what NHS England's policy is on conducting background checks on (a) executive and (b) non-executive job roles.

Andrew Stephenson: National Health Service organisations have robust recruitment policies and processes which comply with regulatory requirements and employment law. This includes having effective background checks to ensure individuals are of sound character and have the appropriate qualifications, skills, and competency to properly and safely perform the tasks required of them.

Out-patients: Attendance

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS outpatient appointments were missed in each year since 2013.

Andrew Stephenson: Information on hospital outpatient appointments by attendance type, including did not attends (DNAs), is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-outpatient-activity/

Chronic Illnesses: Children

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number and proportion of children who are living with a long-term health condition.

Andrew Stephenson: This information is not collected centrally.

Pancreatic Cancer

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a 21-day treatment standard for pancreatic cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: No assessment has been made.NHS England announced in August 2023 that cancer standards would be changed, in line with the recommendations of clinicians within the ‘Clinically-led review of NHS cancer standards’, which was published in March 2022.The review is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/clinically-led-review-of-nhs-cancer-standards-models-of-care-and-measurement/This will see the current ten cancer standards reduced to three - the Faster Diagnosis Standard, the 31-day treatment standard, and the 62-day diagnosis and treatment standard.

Cancer: Greater London

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS cancer patients in north-east London have waited longer than (a) 62 days, (b) three months, (c) four months, (d) six months and (e) 12 months for treatment in each of the last three years.

Andrew Stephenson: The following table shows the number of patients who received a cancer treatment following an urgent referral for cancer in North East London, how many patients who received their first cancer treatment within 62-days wait from a general practitioner (GP) urgent referral (within the standard) in North East London, and how many patients who received their first cancer treatment after 62-days from GP urgent referral (outside of the standard) within North East London, within the last three full years data that is available.YearTotalWithin 62-day StandardOutside 62-day StandardPerformance Rate2020/212,7232,09462976.9%2021/223,2902,45783374.7%2022/233,3482,2061,14265.9% The breakdown of data outside 62 days in not held centrally.

Veterans: Health Services

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided for Op Restore in 2023.

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided for Op Nova in 2023.

Maria Caulfield: Planned spend on Op RESTORE for 2023/24 is £0.5 million. Additional costs associated with treatment costs form part of overall expenditure within integrated care boards and are not separately identified.Op NOVA launched on 1 April 2023. Planned spend on Op NOVA for 2023/24 is £2.03 million.

Contraceptives

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of levels of regional variation in the (a) provision of and (b) funding for long-acting reversible contraception.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national minimum fee for fitting long-acting reversible contraception.

Andrew Stephenson: There are no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national minimum fee for fitting long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), or to make an assessment of levels of regional variation in the provision of and funding for LARC.Integrated care boards (ICBs) may commission General Practices to offer LARC as an enhanced service to their local population, in addition to the service provided through the GP contract. It is for ICBs to decide on commissioning arrangements for their area based on an assessment of local need.Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services, including the provision of LARC, to meet local demand.

Surgery: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for elective surgeries for people in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Andrew Stephenson: We are taking action to recover elective services nationally, including for people in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the National Health Service with record levels of staffing and funding. To support elective recovery, we plan to spend more than £8 billion from 2022-23 to 2024-25, supported by a £5.9 billion investment in capital – for new beds, equipment and technology.£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. As at November 2023, there are 130 CDCs currently operational that have delivered over five million additional tests since July 2021, including large, standard and hub models.  This includes two CDCs in Bedfordshire – North Bedfordshire CDC in Bedford and Whitehouse Health Centre CDC in Milton Keynes.We are also transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 95 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of 16 November 2023. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.

Bridlington Hospital

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans she has to increase the range of health services at Bridlington Hospital.

Andrew Stephenson: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning and commissioning healthcare services which meet the reasonable needs of the people for whom they are responsible. ICBs should evaluate the changing needs of their local area and plan new service provision as required.

Alcoholism: Young People

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to tackle the impact of alcoholism on young people (a) nationally and (b) in Romford constituency.

Andrea Leadsom: Alcohol dependence is rare in young people under the age of 18 years old, although they may be drinking problematically. Young people may also experience second-hand harms of parental alcohol dependence.The most effective and sustainable approach to tackling alcohol dependence in young people is building resilience through giving them a good start in life, the best education possible and keeping them safe, well and happy. Alcohol education is part of the compulsory health education curriculum for all state funded schools, following the introduction of statutory relationships, sex and health education in England in September 2020.Through the cross-Government Drug Strategy, the Department has allocated £532 million of additional funding through to 2024/25, to support improvements in substance misuse treatment, including facilitating 5,000 more young people into age-appropriate alcohol and drug treatment by 2024/25.Local authorities can invest their allocation in options from a ‘menu of interventions’, some of which include strengthening the services available to children and families. Local authorities across England indicated Drug Strategy spend for 2022/23 between £2.4 million and £5.6 million on interventions focused on, or that offer support for, families affected by parental substance misuse. Local plans from Havering include developing Hidden Harm provisions within substance misuse services for young people, and enhancing support to carers and children by investing in a Family Practitioner.

Dental Services: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting lists for enrolment with NHS dentists in Lincolnshire.

Andrea Leadsom: Patients do not routinely join National Health Service dental waiting lists and are only registered with a dental practice for a course of treatment. In July 2022 we announced a package of reforms to improve access to NHS dentistry. This included changes to banding of courses of treatments and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value.From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for identifying areas of need and determine the priorities for investment. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will include how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients.

Neurology: International Cooperation

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps with her international counterparts on improving processes for the (a) diagnosis, (b) management and (c) treatment of neurological conditions.

Andrew Stephenson: As outlined in the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers Communique, which was published in May 2023, we encourage member states to develop and implement strategies and action plans, adopting integrated approaches on dementia in line with the WHO’s Global Action Plan on Dementia.More generally, to support improvements to the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions in England, the National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) has published a number of guidelines relevant to the management of various neurological conditions. These guidelines set out best practice for clinicians and support commissioners to plan services for local populations. When developing or reviewing its guidance, NICE takes account of all available evidence, including international evidence.

Arthritis: Children

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve support for children with arthritis.

Andrea Leadsom: Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Although the exact cause of JIA is unknown, the symptoms often improve as a child gets older, meaning they can lead a normal life. Services for children with arthritis are provided separately by specialist paediatric rheumatology teams under the umbrella of paediatric services.NHS England has commissioned a Respond and Advise Clinical Reference Group for paediatric specialised rheumatology. As part of this, it has commissioned a service specification available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e03-paedi-medi-rheum.pdfService specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care. The specifications have been developed by specialised clinicians, commissioners, expert patients and public health representatives to describe both core and developmental service standards.

Integrated Care Boards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is her Department's policy on monitoring the decisions taken by ICBs.

Andrew Stephenson: ICBs are statutory bodies responsible for commissioning health and care services. NHS England holds ICBs and NHS providers to account for delivery of national priorities and statutory functions and oversees them via an NHS oversight framework. NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in each financial year and publish a summary of its findings, taking into consideration how well they are carrying out their statutory functions.DHSC ministers are accountable to Parliament for all matters concerning health and social care. Ministers hold NHS England to account for delivery of the mandate and their statutory functions.

Spinal Injuries

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to increase (a) awareness and (b) training for clinicians on the Getting It Right First Time pathway for (i) Cauda Equina and (ii) other spinal injuries.

Andrew Stephenson: Individual employers are responsible for investing in post-registration training, ensuring that staff are trained and competent to carry out their role and are adequately supported throughout their training. All training undertaken by post-registration qualified staff should be in line with national and local guidelines covering the training being undertaken.NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) programme has worked collaboratively with a multidisciplinary group of more than 60 health professionals to develop an interactive pathway for those patients with suspected cauda equina syndrome, designed to support clinical teams to diagnose and treat the condition without delay and improve patient outcomes.The pathway offers best practice along all stages of the patient pathway, from presentation to their GP or in the community, to presentation at hospital and diagnosis, to surgery and on to post-operative care. It is supported by detailed guidance, outlining when and how to carry out stages of the pathway, including best practice for referrals and imaging, surgical techniques, pain control and other post-operative support

Medical Treatments: Innovation

Mark Eastwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answers of 16 October 2023 to Questions 200120, 200121, 200122 and 200123 on Medial Treatments: Innovation, which criteria within the MedTech Strategy Programme governance structures will be used to assess the range of initiatives.

Andrew Stephenson: A key criterion is clear, meaningful metrics that directly align to the core priorities of the Strategy. We are working with system partners, industry and patient groups and other key stakeholders to develop meaningful metrics for each initiative and for the overall robust evaluation of the strategy.Our previous answer, which you reference in your question, outlined the range of different initiatives we are progressing. Each initiative is at a different stage of progress and will work up individual, appropriate criteria with their key delivery partners. These will be reported to programme governance structures as they become available.

Cannabidiol: Food

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish all the scientific data supporting the findings in the Joint position paper from the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) and Committee on Toxicity (COT) on establishing a provisional acceptable daily intake (ADI) for pure form (≥98%) cannabidiol (CBD) in foods, based on new evidence, which was published on 12 October 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: The scientific data was summarised in the joint position paper from the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes and Committee on Toxicity, which is available at the following link:https://acnfp.food.gov.uk/JointpositionpaperfromACNFP%26COTonestablishingprovisionalADIforpureformCBDinfoodsFurther detailed information will be published on the Food Standards Agency’s website in safety assessments relating to the novel foods applications for cannabidiol, as required by Article 23 4 (e) of Novel Foods Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, which are in preparation.

Health and Social Care Leadership in England Review

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the report by General Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard entitled Health and social care review: leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future, published on 8 June 2022.

Andrew Stephenson: The report made seven recommendations, which were accepted by the Government.NHS England is leading on implementation of all seven recommendations. Progress has been made on all the recommendations, working in partnership with Skills for Care for those that apply to the social care workforce. An update on each of the recommendations can be found below:Recommendation 1 – A new national induction scheme for staff of all grades who join health and social care will be launched in April 2024.Recommendation 2 - Underpinning all the recommendations is the commitment in the review to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) through the NHS England EDI Improvement Plan which was launched in June 2023.Recommendation 3 – A management and leadership framework is currently being developed for consultation and extensive testing by March 2024. It comprises a management code, professional standards and management competencies at five levels, from entry level to executive manager.Recommendation 4 - A new standardised Board Appraisal Framework will be delivered by Summer 2024, aligned to the Leadership Competency Framework in fulfilment of the Kark Review. The development of a simplified appraisal for all NHS staff is underway and is expected in 2024/25.Recommendations 5 – NHS England is working in close partnership with integrated care boards (ICBs) and providers in regions, to convene regional talent pools which support the development of talent pipelines towards board level roles. NHS England Executive director and Aspiring CEO programmes will further help support the development of people with high potential towards first time executive roles. The Aspiring CEO Programme will recruit its next cohort in Spring 2024.Recommendation 6 – NHS England has launched a new induction day for Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. This ran for the first time nationally in October, with 15 modules of supporting information available from March 2024.Recommendation 7 – NHS England will be implementing monthly talent meetings between Regional Directors to look ahead towards forthcoming Chair and CEO vacancies and appointment processes. This will help identify potential talent across regions and support succession planning for challenged parts of the system. A first national very senior manager (VSM) pay framework is being developed and will include allowances for enhanced pay at VSM level for moving to challenged or very challenged organisations. Good practice support for senior leaders is due to start early next year for delivery in 2024/5, which includes sharing what has been proven to work when moving to challenged roles or organisations.

Hepatitis and HIV Infection: Screening

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 17 October 2023 to Question 200545 on Hepatitis and HIV Infection and to the Emergency department bloodborne virus opt-out testing: 12-month interim report 2023, published by the UK Health Security Agency on 9 November 2023, what recent progress she has made on expanding the programme to all areas with a high prevalence of HIV.

Andrea Leadsom: On 9 November, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published an evaluation of the first year of the bloodborne virus (BBV) opt-out testing in emergency departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. Findings show that the programme has made a significant contribution to BBV testing in England with more than half the number of tests done in the programme compared to BBV tests in other settings.We continue to assess available evidence alongside data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS- and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030 to decide on further expansion of the programme.

Cancer: Health Services

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support cancer services and (b) reduce waiting times for access to cancer treatment.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department is taking steps to reduce cancer treatment waiting times across England, including the time between an urgent GP referral and the commencement of treatment for cancer for patients. The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care, and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.Additionally, the Government recently published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023 which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next five years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer.  This is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/major-conditions-strategy-case-for-change-and-our-strategic-framework

General Practitioners: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to support the provision of additional services in GP surgeries in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Andrew Stephenson: We remain committed to growing and diversifying the General Practice workforce, through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) Primary Care Networks (PCNS) and practices have recruited over 34,000 additional staff including Pharmacists, Physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers.These roles provide appointments and perform clinical and administrative tasks as part of the wider General Practice multi-disciplinary team.NHS England have committed to supporting all of the roles recruited through the scheme into the future, PCNs, including those in Mid Bedfordshire, can be confident that there will be funding for any ARRS role recruited before March 2024.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase accessibility to pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Andrea Leadsom: The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG) is developing a roadmap to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access, uptake and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to meet the needs of key populations at significant risk of HIV. This forms part of the group’s work to monitor and drive forward the implementation of the HIV Action Plan.HIV PrEP is currently only prescribed at specialist sexual health services, but as we work towards our 2030 ambitions, we will explore opportunities for making it available in a variety of settings. The roadmap is expected to be made available by the ISG by the end of the year.

Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time for (a) access to NHS Talking Therapies, (b) an assessment and (c) first appointment with a therapist after seeing a GP was in each Clinical commissioning group in the last 12 months; and what the average waiting time for each was in each Integrated care system area in the most recent period for which data is available.

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for patients to have (a) an assessment and (b) a first appointment with an NHS Talking Therapies therapist after being seen by a GP in each (i) clinical commissioning group between January 2021 and August 2023 and (ii) integrated care system area in the most recent period for which data is available.

Maria Caulfield: A table is attached that shows latest available information.PQ1722, PQ1723 (xlsx, 84.6KB)

Prescriptions: ICT

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts do not have a fully functioning electronic prescribing system.

Andrew Stephenson: The information requested is not held centrally.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people are discharged from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services without a transition plan to adult services.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not held.

Mental Health Services: Children

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for transition of patients from child to adult mental health services.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of young people do not transition to adult services after being discharged from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Maria Caulfield: While information on the number of children and young people discharged from mental health services, and the number subsequently referred to adult mental health services is collected by NHS England, this is not centrally validated.

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the role of NHS England in NHS Dentistry is.

Andrea Leadsom: ‘Dental commissioning and policy’, published by NHS England, sets out their role in commissioning NHS Dentistry which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/dentistry/dental-commissioning/

Health Services: Women

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) measure and (b) assess the adequacy of the progress of integrated care systems in (i) establishing women’s health hubs and (ii) ensuring that hubs offer the full list of core services set out in the guidance entitled Women's health hubs: core specification, published on 22 July 2023.

Maria Caulfield: Every integrated care board (ICB) in England has been allocated £595,000 in total over 2023/24 and 2024/25. ICBs have been asked to use this funding to establish or expand at least one women’s health hub in their system in line with the core specification.ICBs are accountable to NHS England (NHSE) for NHS spend and performance, including the funding for women’s health hubs. All ICBs have now submitted an initial return to NHSE setting out where their hub(s) will be, what services they plan to offer, their staffing model, and other information.ICBs are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their local population and will determine the exact services that their women’s health hub will provide. NHSE will request further updates over the duration of the funding to enable DHSC and NHSE to monitor ICBs’ progress.

HIV Infection: Health Education

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of advice on HIV (a) prevention and (b) testing.

Andrea Leadsom: HIV testing and prevention is provided to local authorities in England through the public health grant, funded at £3.5 billion in 2023-2024. Through this grant, they are mandated to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and the provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need and to commission the service lines that best suit their population.This is further supported by national initiatives under the Government’s HIV Action Plan. As part of the Plan, NHS England is investing £20 million over three years to implement opt-out HIV testing in EDs (emergency departments) in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. Provisional data from NHS England indicates that the opt-out testing programme has helped to find more than 550 cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV and more than 1,900 cases of undiagnosed or untreated hepatitis during its first year. We will be assessing all of this evidence, alongside the data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions and AIDS- and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030, to decide whether we further expand the programme.The Department is also investing over £3.5million from 2021-2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme. This is a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence.

Mental Health Services: Standards

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of NHS digital mental health services.

Maria Caulfield: The Department has not undertaken such an assessment. Early Value Assessment is a new process designed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to assess the clinical effectiveness of health technologies that have an emerging evidence base, earlier and faster than a full NICE appraisal. The initial topics selected for consideration include technologies for use in mental health.The Spring 2023 Budget contained a number of packages that support mental health, including around £200 million for digital mental health. This funding is to modernise and digitise mental health services in England, provide wellness and clinical grade apps free at the point of use, pilot cutting-edge digital therapies and digitise the NHS Talking Therapies programme.

Mental Health Services: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to mental health services in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Maria Caulfield: We remain committed to the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan, investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year in expanding and transforming mental health services in England, including in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.This extra funding will enable an extra two million people to be treated by NHS mental health services by March 2024.We expect integrated care boards to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

Dental Services: Greater London

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of access to NHS dental services in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Andrea Leadsom: In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care, including London. The changes that have been implemented include improvements to ensure dentists are remunerated more fairly for more complex work and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value. NHS dental activity as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23.From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.But we know we need to do more, and that there are some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.

Electronic Cigarettes

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who use vapes (a) as an aide to stop smoking cigarettes and (b) who did not previously smoke by (i) age, (ii) gender, (iii) ethnicity, (iv) socio-economic status and (v) integrated care system (A) location and (B) sub-location.

Andrea Leadsom: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) adult smoking habits survey provides some data on the proportion of people that vape in England.In 2019, 52.8% e-cigarette users aged 16 years old and over were using them as an aid to stop smoking. This equates to just over one million adults in the population. This is the last time this information was collected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.In 2022, 2.4% of adults aged 16 years old and over who had never smoked were current users of e-cigarettes. This equates almost 700,000 adults in the population.Further breakdowns by age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and integrated care system location and sub-location are not published by ONS.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Coronavirus

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the likelihood of a connection between myalgic encephomyalitis and long covid.

Maria Caulfield: No assessment has been made. Whilst myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID are similar in presentation, they are distinct conditions.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence currently recommends separate pathways for the assessment, treatment, and management of ME/CFS and the long-term effects of COVID-19.

General Practitioners: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of face-to-face GP appointments in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Andrea Leadsom: We are investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024, by growing and diversifying the workforce. In the twelve months to September 2023, there were 356.6 million appointments booked across England, up by 14.8% (46.2 million) compared to the twelve months up to September 2019.The National Health Service is clear that general practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations. Patients’ input into consultation type should also be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary. The constituency of Mid Bedfordshire sits within the ICB of Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership.In September 2023, there were 499,000 appointments carried out. 79.7% of these appointments were face-to-face, compared to 78.2% in September 2022; this has increased by 1.5% within the year.

Dental Services: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to help increase access to NHS dental appointments in Stockport constituency.

Andrea Leadsom: In July 2022 we announced a package of reforms to improve access to NHS dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Stockport. The changes that have been implemented include improvements to ensure dentists are remunerated more fairly for more complex work and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value.From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32.But we know we need to do more, and that there are some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.

Dental Services

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress her Department has made on an NHS Dental Plan; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of such a plan on the provision of NHS dental services in (a) Pocklington, (b) Driffield, and (c) Bridlington in the next 12 months.

Andrea Leadsom: We will be publishing our Dentistry Recovery Plan shortly which will address how we continue to improve access for patients and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care across England.Since 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.

Healthy Start Scheme: Migrants

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to launch the consultation on the permanent extension of the Healthy Start scheme to families who are subject to No Recourse to Public Funds.

Andrea Leadsom: We are currently considering options and further information will be available in due course.

Tumours: Medical Treatments

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NICE assessments of rare tumour type treatments consider both the failure rate of radiotherapy and the success rate of new treatments.

Andrew Stephenson: In its evaluations of new health technologies, including for rare diseases, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) takes into account all health-related costs and benefits, including evidence of comparative outcomes against existing treatment options such as radiotherapy. Full details of the process and methods used by NICE in undertaking evaluations are set out in NICE health technology evaluations: the manual, published on the NICE website and available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/process/pmg36/chapter/introduction-to-health-technology-evaluation

Brain: Tumours

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to a Cure, whether her Department is taking steps to attract researchers from other research fields into the field of brain tumour research.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the APPG report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).The Department is taking actions to help grow capacity for brain cancer research by attracting new researchers from other research fields and developing the community. The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) recently announced two appointments to the inaugural Tessa Jowell Fellowship programme. These 12-month fellowships will support high quality training in neuro-oncology clinical practice and research, to ensure clinicians are equipped with the relevant research skills needed to lead neuro-oncology trials that change practice. Additionally, the TJBCM have designated 28 adult Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence within the National Health Service, which has created a world-class network of brain tumour treatment and research centres to provide the best care and share best practice.In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the TJBCM through the NIHR. The £40 million funding will remain available; if we can spend more on the best quality science, we will do.

Brain: Tumours

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG on Brain Tumours' Inquiry Report entitled Pathway to a Cure, whether she is taking steps to ensure that the relevant tissue collection infrastructure is in place to conduct high quality brain tumour research.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care welcomes the APPG report, recommendations of which continue to be worked through with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, and UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission reports that over 70% of UK neuro-oncology centres now have biobanking infrastructure in place to collect samples and tissue for research, and that these centres are collaborating to improve tissue collection opportunities via the Tessa Jowell Academy.

Health Services: Weather

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will develop a long term plan for managing winter pressures.

Andrew Stephenson: Winter is a particularly challenging time for the National Health Service with demand for services increasing significantly with the onset of cold weather and flu. Our recovery plan, published on 30 January 2023, set out how we will improve urgent and emergency care services this winter and in future years by increasing hospital beds, scaling up virtual wards and delivering new ambulances.This is all backed by a £1 billion dedicated funding to support capacity in urgent and emergency services this year, alongside a £250 million capital investment in hospital trusts and £200 million for ambulances services to increase ambulance hours on the road.

Cancer: Screening

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the screening age for (a) lung, (b) breast, (c) bowel and (d) other cancers.

Andrew Stephenson: Decisions on the age eligibility for national screening programmes is set in recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes informed decisions on age eligibility based on scientific evidence on the effectiveness and harms to different age cohorts if they are invited to be screened.Th UK NSC works to review and adapt programmes according to the latest scientific evidence. Following a UK NSC recommendation, the bowel cancer screening programme is currently lowing the eligible age to 50 years old from 60 years old. This is due to be finished by 2024/25. UK NSC awaits the outcome of a large research project called AgeX which is looking at the upper and lower age limit for breast screening.

NHS

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department made use of digital modelling when preparing its NHS Long Term Work Plan.

Andrew Stephenson: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will put staffing across the National Health Service on a sustainable footing. It will deliver the biggest increase in training numbers in the NHS’s history with record numbers of nurses, doctors, dentists, allied health professionals and other key healthcare staff to address the gaps in the current workforce and meet the challenge of a growing and ageing population. The modelling used in the Plan is founded on data, evidence and analysis and provides a set of broad ranges to quantify the potential impact of actions over its 15-year timeframe.

Neurology

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that all neurological conditions are incorporated into the Major Conditions Strategy.

Andrew Stephenson: The strategy is focused on the prevention, treatment, and management of the six major conditions groups (including dementia) that have the greatest impact on premature mortality and reduced healthy life expectancy in England. However, many of the solutions identified will be applicable beyond just these six major condition groups.We are engaging across Government and with wider stakeholders representing neurological conditions to ensure their views are considered in the development of the strategy. We have also engaged with individuals with lived experience of neurological conditions to support the development of the final strategy.

Strokes: Greater London

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of support available for patients recovering from a stroke in west London.

Andrew Stephenson: The national service model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service (ICSS) was published in February 2022. It sets out the transfer of care of stroke survivors from hospital, and provides home-based stroke rehabilitation through a specialist multidisciplinary team structure. It provides an integrated seven days per week service, providing early supported discharge, high-intensive and needs-based community stroke rehabilitation and disability managementNHS England have developed a plan to address gaps in intensity community stroke therapy within the West London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow and community services, including critical Early Supported Discharge teams within the borough of Harrow. NHS England plan to have common community stroke service offers across North West London for 2024/25.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure that all patients with protected characteristics are included in the roll-out of hybrid closed loop technology for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Andrew Stephenson: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published final draft guidance on the use of the hybrid closed loop (HCL) systems for managing blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes to the National Health Service in England. The draft guidance is out for comment until 28 November 2023. If there are no appeals, then the final guidance will be published in December 2023.NHS England are engaging with integrated care boards (ICBs) and other stakeholders as part of the development of the HCL implementation strategy. The strategy will provide advice and guidance to ICBs and NHS providers on the phased approach to implementation. Prioritisation will be based on patient need within the eligible population and through the National Diabetes Audit, activity rates and outcomes will be reported to monitor unwarranted variation in access and address health inequalities.

Heart Diseases

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 17 April 2023 to Question 177873 on Heart Diseases, what steps the NHS is taking to increase access to testing to support the diagnosis of heart failure in primary care.

Andrew Stephenson: The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to a number of key ambitions to improve care and outcomes for individuals with cardiovascular disease, including enhanced diagnostic support in the community, better personalised planning and increasing access to cardiac rehabilitation. These ambitions will support the delivery of the aim to help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029.Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for cardiology services, is one of this Government’s top priorities. £2.3 billion was awarded to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for cardiology services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering cardiology services.In addition, the NHS will increase capacity, by seeking alternative capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs.NHS England is supporting a new fast-track echocardiography training scheme. In collaboration with the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE), this training scheme has been developed to respond rapidly to the urgent workforce needs for accredited echocardiographers.

Cancer: Greater London

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people within the North East London Integrated Care Board area who have an urgent referral were waiting to start cancer treatment on the NHS on 13 November 2023.

Andrew Stephenson: The requested data is not held centrally. As of week-ending 1 October 2023, 75 patients in North East London were waiting for a first treatment following a decision to treat.

Strokes: Physiotherapy

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase the number of physiotherapy appointments available to patients who have had a stroke.

Andrew Stephenson: Provision of physiotherapy as part of stroke rehabilitation is a key part of the stroke care pathway as outlined in NHS England’s National Stroke Service Model and the national service model for an integrated community stroke service (ICSS).Plans are in place to increase access to rehabilitation closer to home. This includes the £200 million Discharge Fund, a commitment to digital rehabilitation for those who would benefit from it, and access to physiotherapy in community settings as part of the ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’, which was published earlier this year. This is available at the following link:  https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/delivery-plan-for-recovering-urgent-and-emergency-care-services/The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) reported that the number of patients accessing community stroke services has risen from 39,655 in 2018/19 to 47,152 in 2022/23.NHS organisations have been asked to ensure that adequate space is allocated to functions such as physiotherapy, so that such services can operate efficiently.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to promote to clinicians the use of hybrid closed loop technology for patients with type one diabetes.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to promote to patients the use of hybrid closed loop technology for patients with type one diabetes.

Andrew Stephenson: The National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) has published its draft guidance on Hybrid Closed Loop (HCL) technology which recommends the cohorts of patients with type 1 diabetes that it should be rolled out to. The draft guidance is out for comment until 28 November 2023. If there are no appeals, then the final guidance will be published in December 2023. Recognising HCL represents a step change in care for patients living with type 1 diabetes, NICE has agreed with NHS England a planned five year roll out for this technology recognising that both clinicians and patients require training to safely use the HCL technology.The Department welcomes NICE’s draft guidance and supports the NHS England phased approach to adoption. NHS England will make clinicians aware of the priorities for access, to help reduce healthcare inequalities.If a patient meets the eligibility criteria for the hybrid closed loop, then their clinician can recommend this in line with NICE recommendations. NHS England is engaging with integrated care board leads, trust clinical leads working within children, young people and adults services, professional bodies and patient representative groups as part of the implementation strategy’s development.

Heart Diseases: Defibrillators

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on neurological outcomes for patients admitted for a cardiac arrest suffered out of hospital (a) with and (b) without defibrillator treatment at the scene.

Andrew Stephenson: This data is not held by the Department.

Pancreatic Cancer

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make a comparative estimate of pancreatic cancer survival rates in (a) the UK and (b) other comparable nations.

Andrew Stephenson: No comparative estimate has been made. The one-year net survival estimates with 95% confidence intervals for adults (aged 15 years old to 99 years old) diagnosed between 2016 and 2020, followed up in 2021 in England was 27.7%, and the five year net survival estimates with 95% confidence intervals for adults (aged 15 years old to 99 years old) diagnosed between 2016 and 2020, followed up in 2021 in England was 8.3%.

Dental Services: Fees and Charges

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cost of (a) public and (b) private dentistry on people's ability to access those services.

Andrea Leadsom: Our latest Dental Statistics Annual Report for England shows signs of improvements in people’s access to National Health Service dentistry. NHS dental activity, as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered, has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. Dental Statistics is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statisticsThe Department has produced an Impact Assessment in respect of the uplift of National Health Service dental charges for patients in England from 24 April, which is available at the following link:https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/367/impacts/2023/41(opens in a new tab) Alongside this, and in line with our Public Sector Equality duty, the Department has also considered the impact of the change on equality and on those from disadvantaged groups.Dental patient charges remain an important contribution to the overall NHS budget. 47.3% of courses of treatment were delivered to non-paying adults and children in 2021/22We continue to provide financial support to those who need it most by offering exemptions to NHS dental patient charges, and support through the low-income scheme for patients who meet the eligibility criteria. Further information is available at the following NHS website:https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/dental-costs/get-help-with-dental-costs/No assessment has been undertaken on the impact on families who opt to access care from a private dentist.

HIV Infection: Screening

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to collaborate with (a) community leaders, (b) faith-based organizations and (c) grassroots initiatives to (i) facilitate open conversations, (ii) reduce stigma and (iii) encourage testing about HIV.

Andrea Leadsom: HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded at £3.5 million over three years by the Department, as part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan (HIVAP).The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, in particular gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women. The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021-2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities. As part of the HIV Action Plan, we established a community advisory group (CAG) comprised by voluntary and community sector representatives who provide a forum to further enable strengthened partnerships and joint working to help meet the goals, objectives and actions in the HIVAP. They will also provide the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG) with advice and expertise on its direction, approach, and outputs in regard to achieving the ambitions set out within the HIVAP. The ISG will consider the advice and, if needed, take appropriate action to ensure we meet our Action Plan’s objectives. Members of the CAG can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1158209/hiv-action-plan-implementation-steering-group-terms-of-reference.pdf.

General Practitioners: Mental Health Services

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of trainee GPs undertook a training placement in a mental health setting in the past ten years.

Andrea Leadsom: The data requested is not held centrally.

Dentistry: Finance

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure the NHS dentistry budget is fully used in the 2023-24 financial year.

Andrea Leadsom: From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for identifying areas of need and to determine the priorities for investment.NHS England has provided guidance for ICBs that requires dental funding to be ringfenced, with any unused resources re-directed to improve National Health Service dental access in the first instance. A schedule setting out the dental ringfence has been issued to ICBs. NHS England’s 2023/24 revenue finance and contracting guidance, which provides more detail, is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/2023-24-revenue-finance-and-contracting-guidance/

General Practitioners: Mid Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) support and (b) resources her Department provides to help GP surgeries in Mid Bedfordshire constituency to clear patient backlogs.

Andrea Leadsom: We published our ‘Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care’, with the goal of increasing capacity and making it easier to receive an appointment in primary care.This will be accomplished by modernising telephone systems to help practices better match their capacity to patient demand as well as building additional capacity by diversifying the workforce to include a wider range of practitioners for patients. This will help free up GP time for more complex cases. We are also expanding community pharmacy, with the introduction of ‘Pharmacy First’. This will enable community pharmacists to manage seven common conditions including the supply of prescription-only medicines without a prescription from a GP. These proposals have the potential to release 10 million GP appointments. Pharmacy First is due to launch on 31 January 2024.We are also investing at least £1.5 billion to create an additional 50 million general practice appointments by 2024.

General Practitioners: Recruitment

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether steps he is taking to increase the GP workforce.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government remains committed to growing the general practitioner (GP) workforce and number of doctors in general practice and is determined to deliver this as soon as possible. We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. Last year, we saw 4,032 trainees accepting a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. The number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.

Letrozole: Shortages

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle shortages of Letrozole.

Andrew Stephenson: A team within the Department deals specifically with medicine supply problems arising both in the community and in hospitals. It has well-established procedures to deal with medicine shortages, whatever the cause, and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when shortages do arise.The team is aware of recent supply constraints affecting letrozole, however, other suppliers remain in stock and can support the gap in the market. Therefore, pharmacies should be able to obtain letrozole via their usual wholesaler routes. In addition, there are currently no supply constraints with the branded medicine of letrozole 2.5mg tablets, Femara.

HIV Infection: Ethnic Groups

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to create tailored HIV awareness campaigns for the black community.

Andrea Leadsom: HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded with £3.5 million over three years by the Department of Health and Social Care, as part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan.The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, in particular gay people, bisexual people and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women. The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021-2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities. HPE work with a wide range of models and their network of influencers and develops its strategies based on comprehensive data, audience insight and knowledge from local partners within England, which ensure a wide range of patient voices and experiences are represented, including those within the black community. Campaigns are promoted using a multi-channel approach including specialist channels relevant to the audiences and targeting via digital platforms and social media.

Dentistry: Oxfordshire

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number of dentists in (a) Oxfordshire, (b) Oxford and(c)Abingdon.

Andrea Leadsom: The information requested is available at integrated care board (ICB) level only. The latest National Health Service Dental Statistics for England Annual Report shows that in 2022/23, 1090 dentists in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICBs performed NHS work. Dental Statistics is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics

Dentistry: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.

Andrea Leadsom: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which was published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver a workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next five, ten and fifteen years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.We have recently taken steps to streamline registration of overseas-trained dentists, including legislation to enable the General Dental Council to improve its international registration processes, and streamlining the process for overseas dentists to join the Dental Performers List and start working in the NHS.Furthermore, we are currently working on a plan for dentistry to improve access to dental care across England. Our plan will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022 and will address making NHS work more attractive to ensure dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.

Dental Services: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices in Easington constituency were accepting new NHS patients aged 18 and over in the latest period for which data is available.

Andrea Leadsom: The information requested is not held centrally.National Health Service dental practice profiles at NHS.UK show whether practices across England are currently accepting new patients. This information is available at the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

HIV Infection: Ethnic Groups

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the availability of (a) education, (b) employment and (c) housing for the black community on rates of HIV transmission within that community.

Andrea Leadsom: No assessment has been made of the potential impact of the availability of education, employment and housing for the black community on rates of HIV transmission within that community.Statutory guidance on relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education is the responsibility of the Department for Education. This ensures that pupils understand transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and that they understand how and where to access confidential sexual and reproductive health advice and treatment, amongst other key issues.The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes.As part of the Plan, the Department has committed £3.5 million to fund a national HIV prevention programme for England, HIV Prevention England (HPE). The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, with a particular focus on Black African communities, delivering a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas with high HIV prevalence.NHSE England is also investing £33 million to fund and roll out the blood-borne virus emergency department (BBV ED) opt-out testing programme covering the 21 local authorities with the highest HIV prevalence. Findings published by UKHSA show that the programme has been particularly successful in engaging harder to reach groups, such as older people, women, people from non-white British backgrounds, and people living in the most deprived areas.Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25.

Dental Services: South East

Bob Seely: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will publish the projected spend in NHS England's dentistry budget for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Andrea Leadsom: The information requested on projected spend in NHS England’s dentistry budget for Hampshire and Isle of Wight has not yet been validated.

Heart Diseases: Pharmacy

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to involve pharmacists in the care of people with heart failure; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on (a) NHS waiting lists and (b) pressures on NHS staff.

Andrea Leadsom: No assessment has been made, however, pharmacists working in different settings across the NHS will be involved in the care of patients with heart failure. For example, in community pharmacy, patients with heart failure who are prescribed a new medicine to manage their condition are eligible for the New Medicines Service under which they receive extra support with their new medicines to increase compliance. Under the Discharge Medicines Service, hospitals can refer patients with heart failure who have recently been discharged from hospital to a community pharmacy for extra support with their medicines to increase compliance and prevent readmission. In addition, the Blood Pressure Check service commissioned in community pharmacy makes it easier for patients to have their blood pressure checked and will refer patients with high blood pressure for treatment to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Primary Health Care: Planning

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential merits of (a) amending the National Planning Policy Framework and (b) introducing regulations governing the future Infrastructure Levy to ensure that sufficient GP and dental services are provided alongside housing developments.

Andrea Leadsom: In the Primary Care Recovery Plan, we committed to reviewing the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and planning guidance to ensure primary care infrastructure can be supported through the planning system where new development creates a need for it.We continue to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities to ensure these commitments are met through its cross-government engagement. This will take place as part of the latest NPPF refresh as well as through negotiations on the future Infrastructure Levy, as the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill has received Royal Assent.Integrated care boards will play a key future role in partnering with Local Planning Authorities to ensure their local Infrastructure Delivery Strategies accurately capture the vision for healthcare in the area.

Incontinence: Waiting Lists

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time was for patients to be assessed for NHS continence services in (a) Stockport (b) the North West and (c) England in the latest period for which data is available.

Andrea Leadsom: This data is not collected by NHS England or the Department. Integrated Commissioning Boards are responsible for determining the needs for continence services in their area.

HIV Infection: Women

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) promote (i) research and (ii) interventions that focus on understanding the social and structural determinants impacting HIV transmission among women and (b) use the results of research to guide prevention efforts.

Andrea Leadsom: The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including women.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publish a yearly monitoring and evaluation report, which sets out key indicators to track progress towards our ambitions in the HIV Action Plan, including by gender, and this data helps system partners to understand where services can be improved and made more accessible to key populations. The next report will be published on 1 December 2023. The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which also funds Health Protection Research Units (HPRUs) to help build an evidence base for public health policy and practice in partnership with UKHSA. The NIHR HPRU in bloodborne and sexually transmitted infections at University College London has ongoing research to determine the levels of awareness of and interest in HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among women and how this relates to equity factors and HIV risk.

Dentistry: Migrant Workers

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) dentists and (b) dental care professionals from overseas were registered (i) between March 2022 and March 2023 and (ii) since March 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) practising in the United Kingdom and enforces the standards they must adhere to. In order to practise in the UK, dentists and DCPs are required to hold registration with the GDC. The Department does not hold data on how many dentists and DCPs have been registered with the GDC. Data on the registration of dentists and DCPs with the GDC is held by the GDC.

Dental Health: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will adopt a tooth brushing strategy for children to improve oral healthcare.

Andrea Leadsom: In England local authorities are responsible for improving the oral health of their local populations, and some local authorities have supervised toothbrushing programmes in place for early years settings and schools. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities have published guidance to help local authorities who are interested in schemes, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-oral-health-supervised-tooth-brushing-programme-toolkit

Op COURAGE: Finance

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was provided for Op Courage in 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: Planned spend on Op COURAGE in financial year 2023/24 is £23.5 million. Following the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, an additional £2.7 million was pledged over three years (until March 2025) to expand Op COURAGE services to support those experiencing complex mental and/or physical trauma, or alcohol and substance misuse.

Genito-urinary Medicine: HIV Infection

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) accessible and (b) affordable sexual and reproductive healthcare services that include HIV prevention and testing.

Andrea Leadsom: We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England.The Department published a HIV Action Plan in 2021 setting out our actions during 2022-2025 to move towards ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Good progress has been made during the first year of its implementation, as set out by the annual report to Parliament published on 7 June. In 2022 we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10 year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understating of HIV transmission and reducing stigma within affected communities.Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25

HIV Infection: Women

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with (a) women's organizations, (b) community leaders and (c) influencers to amplify messages about (i) prevention, (ii) testing and (iii) de-stigmatization of HIV among women.

Andrea Leadsom: HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded at £3.5 million by the Department. The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women.The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021-2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on women. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities through the delivery of public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, and evidence-based HIV prevention interventions in partnership with local organisations and charities, including women-led organisations.HPE work with a wide range of models and their network of influencers. As part of HPE campaigns, a range of people share their stories and experiences on HIV, STIs and sexual health this includes women and other people who are likely to be recognisable to specific demographics.

Health Services: HIV Infection

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that healthcare providers are trained in gender-sensitive and culturally competent care for women seeking HIV-related services.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department has no current plans to provide healthcare providers with training in gender-sensitive and culturally competent care for women seeking HIV services. Individual employers providing HIV care are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained and competent to carry out their role. The standard of training for health care professionals is the responsibility of respective independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. It is the responsibility of higher education institutions to write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards.

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the date by which every (a) adult and (b) child will be able to see an NHS dentist.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the population NHS dentistry has been commissioned to service.

Andrea Leadsom: Our aim is to provide easily accessible and high-quality National Health Service dentistry services to people of all ages who need it, including those with more complex needs.From 1 April 2023 responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.Our latest Dental Statistics Annual Report for England shows NHS dental activity, as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered, increasing by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. The latest statistics also show that 18.1m adults were seen by an NHS dentist in the 24 months up to 30 June 2023 and 6.4 million children were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 months up to 30 June 2023.A dental practice can accept a patient for a course of treatment if they have capacity to deliver that treatment. There are no geographical restrictions on which dental practice a patient may attend, allowing patients the choice of where they receive treatment. Dentists must now update the NHS website with their availability, making access clearer for patients.

Pharmacy

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £645 million announced as part of the Government's delivery plan for the recovery of primary care, what progress her Department has made on its negotiations with Community Pharmacy England; and what her planned timescale is for launching the common conditions service.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to support (a) distance-selling pharmacies and (b) other pharmacies to safely deliver the common conditions service.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that pharmacies delivering the common conditions service are (a) delivering services to appropriate numbers of patients and (b) meeting high standards.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has plans to expand the common conditions service beyond the initial seven conditions outlined in the Government’s Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by NHS England entitled Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published on 9 May 2023, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) guidance and (b) funding to pharmacies for the common conditions service in 2023.

Andrea Leadsom: Negotiations with Community Pharmacy England (CPE) have concluded, and pharmacy contractors have been informed by a joint letter from the Department, NHS England and CPE about the detail of Pharmacy First including the funding of the service. That letter has been published on gov.uk. Pharmacy First will launch on 31 January 2024, subject to the IT underpinning the service being complete. The expansion of the Pharmacy Contraception Service will launch on 1 December together with a relaunch of the existing Blood Pressure Check Service.Under Pharmacy First, community pharmacists will be able to supply prescription-only medicines, including antibiotics and antivirals where clinically appropriate, to treat seven common health conditions (sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women) without the need to visit a GP. The supply of prescription-only medicines will be under Patient Group Directions which are strict protocols for when a medicine can be supplied without a prescription. At present, there are no plans to expand the seven conditions.Pharmacy First can be delivered remotely including by distance selling pharmacies but they will not be able to deliver the earache pathway because this requires someone to look in patient’s ear which cannot be done remotely.Uptake and delivery of Pharmacy First will be closely monitored including the impact on antimicrobial resistance.

Dental Services: Pregnancy

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that pregnant dental patients can access free NHS dentistry appointments.

Andrea Leadsom: There are a range of exemptions to National Health Service dental patient charges, including for women who are pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/dental-costs/get-help-with-dental-costs/

NHS: Databases

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor the use of the Federated Data Platform.

Andrew Stephenson: The uptake of the Federated Data Platform (FDP) will form part of the regular reporting between NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and other Government departments. Each organisation will be its own data controller and will monitor the correct and proper use of the FDP and will have access to granular reporting and audit information on use of the platform.

Motor Neurone Disease: Carers

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report on Understanding the experiences of unpaid carers of people living with Motor Neurone Disease, published by the Motor Neurone Disease Association in November 2022.

Helen Whately: No assessment has been made on the policy implications following the publication of the report.Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer.In 2023/24, £327 million of Better Care funding has been earmarked to provide short breaks and respite services for carers. This also funds additional advice and support to carers and a small number of additional local authority duties.

Social Services

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring local authorities to use the same model for the commissioning of social care services.

Helen Whately: Under the Care Act, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care market to ensure a diverse range of high-quality person-centred care and ensure that support services are provided to meet the needs of the local population. We recognise that this is challenging, and the Government intends to develop a set of national commissioning standards, to set clear expectations of what good commissioning looks like and to drive greater consistency across the country. We are also investing in a new training offer for senior commissioners, to enhance strategic leadership capability and ensure they have the skills they need to shape their markets well.   We recently published the Market Sustainability Insights Report, which summaries some of the approaches local authorities in England are taking to building sustainable and innovative care markets. It is designed to be a supportive tool for local authority commissioners and it is available at the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-market-sustainability-plans-insights-report

Surgical Hubs

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that patients are supported in the community once they are discharged from surgical hubs.

Helen Whately: In September 2023, NHS England published the Intermediate Care Framework for Rehabilitation, Reablement and Recovery following Hospital Discharge. This best practice guidance aims to improve patient experience and outcomes, as well as improving flow and discharge, freeing-up National Health Service hospital capacity for those who need it most.Alongside the Intermediate Care Framework, NHS England published good practice guidance for Integrated Care Boards on increasing community rehabilitation capacity to support people leaving hospital and after they have received intermediate care. This includes therapy-led reablement.

Care Homes: Fees and Charges

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to introduce the cap on care costs.

Helen Whately: As announced in the Autumn Statement 2022, we listened to the concerns of local Government and took the difficult decision to delay the planned adult social care charging reforms.To ensure that these highly ambitious reforms are successful and to avoid destabilising the system, it is vital that we work with the sector to ensure that local authorities have the capacity and readiness to deliver reform successfully.We are committed to working with local authorities to build preparedness, and the Government has made available up to £8.1 billion to put the adult social care system on a stronger financial footing.

Dementia: International Cooperation

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to dementia Health Ministers and the Health Ministers communiqué from Japan’s presidency of the G7, if he will write to the WHO secretariat to support calls for a 10-year extension to the Global Action Plan on dementia.

Helen Whately: As outlined in the G7 Nagasaki Health Ministers Communique held on 13 and 14 May 2023, the G7 Health Ministers encourage member states to develop and implement strategies and action plans, adopting integrated approaches on dementia in line with the WHO’s Global Action Plan on Dementia. In terms of any extension to the Global Action Plan, this is still under consideration.On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy covering six conditions including dementia. Our Major Conditions Strategy will consider prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care to support people to stay in good health for longer.We published our initial report Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework on 14 August 2023. It sets out what we have learned so far, and shares what we plan to focus on next to develop the final strategy. Following publication of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to develop the strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy in early 2024.

Social Services: Standards

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of processes for social care users to (a) acquire the care they need and (b) file complaints.

Helen Whately: The Government has made up to £8.1 billion available over this year and next to strengthen adult social care provision with the aim of ensuring everyone can access high quality care that enables choice, control and independence. Local Authorities are responsible for the delivery of social care. Local authorities must assess individuals’ care and support needs and, where the person is eligible, meet those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014. By law, all health and social care services must have a procedure for dealing efficiently with complaints, and anyone who has seen or experienced poor-quality care has the right to complain to the organisation that provided or paid for the care. If an individual is not satisfied with the way a provider or local authority has dealt with a complaint, they may escalate it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman who can investigate individual concerns.

Queen's Hospital Romford: Accident and Emergency Departments

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients at Queen's Hospital in Romford Accident and Emergency department were seen (a) within four, (b) within six and (c) in over eight hours in the latest period for which data is available.

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients at King George's Hospital Accident and Emergency Department in Goodmayes were seen (a) within four, (b) within six and (c) in over eight hours in the latest period for which data is available.

Helen Whately: This information is not held in the format requested. The data requested is not available at an individual hospital level. The following table shows the National Health Service trust level data for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust showing accident and emergency (A&E) attendances and the proportion of patients seen within four hours and over four hours for October 2023.A&E attendances less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge% A&E attendances less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or dischargeA&E attendances greater than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge% A&E attendances greater than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or dischargeTotal attendances in October 202317,45067.9%8,25932.1%25,709Source: A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2023-24 (england.nhs.uk)

Salford Royal Hospital: Negligence

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of allegations of impropriety in the investigation into medical malpractice at Salford Royal Hospital in 2023.

Maria Caulfield: The Northern Care Alliance commissioned the Spinal Patient Safety Look Back review in 2021. A report detailing the findings was published in July 2023. Following this, the Northern Care Alliance additionally commissioned an independent barrister to review the Trust’s historic management of concerns raised regarding a particular surgeon. The findings of this review are being finalised and will be shared in due course. No assessment has been made by the Department as to the accuracy of the allegations.

Department for Education

Child Arrangements Orders

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published in May 2022, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of the recommendation to provide a financial allowance to all (a) special guardians and (b) kinship carers with a child arrangements order.

David Johnston: As part of the commitment outlined in 'Stable Homes Built on Love,' the department is exploring the feasibility of introducing a new financial allowance for kinship carers with a special guardianship order or child arrangements order. Further details will be shared in due course.The department is in the final stages of drafting its kinship strategy, which outlines plans to enhance support for all kinship families in England. This strategy will complement the existing support initiatives offered by the department, such as the peer-to-peer support service and the upcoming training and support programme set to launch next year.

Carers: Training

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Children's Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love, published in September 2023, how her Department plans to use the £9 million earmarked for kinship care training and support.

David Johnston: I refer the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to the answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 755.

Children in Care: Restraint Techniques

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to regulate the use of restraints on looked after children and young people during secure transportation.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy, whether standards of care will (a) set standards on the use restraint and (b) apply to providers of secure transportation for looked after children.

David Johnston: The safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people is always of the utmost importance to the department.Restraint should only be used in exceptional cases where it is necessary and proportionate, for example, if there was no other way to prevent a child from seriously harming themselves or others.In Stable Homes, Built on Love, the department committed to working closely with sector experts to review all existing legislation, standards and guidance, and to develop a core overarching set of Standards of Care with accompanying regulations. The department envisages that its new standards and regulations will cover the use of restraint and the department is exploring what further action is needed regarding the use of restraint in transportation as part of this.The department intends to consult on the Standards of Care in due course, with a view to updating legislation subject to parliamentary time.

Agriculture: T-levels

Dr Thérèse Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to extend the livestock production syllabus of the agriculture land management and production T-level to include (a) pigs and (b) sheep.

Robert Halfon: The Agriculture, Land Management and Production T Level is designed to equip students with the core knowledge and skills they need to enter a range of agriculture, land management and production occupations.In their second year, students choose an occupational specialism to complete. The Livestock Production Occupational Specialism in the T Level provides students with a strong foundation knowledge relating to cattle, sheep/lambs, pigs and poultry production.The assessed skill elements within the T Level currently relate to cattle and sheep/lambs. While the skills related to pig production was considered for inclusion, in addition to cattle and sheep, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education had concerns that delivering and assessing pigs content would not be practical due to manageability and resourcing issues for providers and the need to ensure comparability of assessment.T Levels are designed to provide high quality learning for students and deliver the knowledge and skills employers need. T Level content may evolve as the underpinning occupational standards are updated and as the department continues to regularly review the content through engagement with employers, providers and industry experts.

Childcare: Finance

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she has allocated to (a) rolling out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024 and (b) extending 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024; and how much the devolved nations will each receive in Barnett Formula consequential funding.

David Johnston: In the Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced a transformative set of childcare reforms aimed at increasing labour market participation. This included the largest ever investment in childcare, including expansions of early years entitlements and wraparound childcare.The department expects to provide over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund the new entitlements (on top of increases also announced for the existing entitlements): £1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27 and £4.1 billion in 2027/28. These figures are for England only.At the Spring Budget, the government provided the devolved administrations with additional funding through the Barnett consequentials in the usual way. Details of the quantum of this funding are not held by the department.

Schools: Mental Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools take a (a) whole school and (b) therapeutic approach to supporting children with trauma.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to teachers on supporting children with trauma.

David Johnston: Schools have the flexibility to decide what pastoral support they provide to best meet the individual needs of all their pupils. This includes how they approach supporting children who have experienced trauma. However, the department recommends a whole-school approach as the most effective way to promote and support mental health and wellbeing, including for pupils or groups of pupils who may be particularly vulnerable, such as those who have experienced trauma.The department’s guidance on the principles of a whole school or college approach, recognises the importance of an individualised response to pupil needs, and that taking a trauma-informed approach can help contribute towards creating a safe environment for those who have experienced trauma and adverse experiences. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing.The department is offering all state-funded schools and colleges in England a grant to train a senior mental health lead, who can embed and sustain a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. This training covers the range of mental health issues likely to be encountered in schools and colleges and the risk factors associated with specific groups, including those who have suffered from trauma, to support leads to understand and plan appropriate responses to pupils’ mental health and wellbeing needs. Over 14,400 settings have received a training grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state secondary schools.Additionally, a range of department guidance makes clear the need for school staff to be aware of adverse childhood experiences, including trauma, and the potential impact on children. Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) is statutory guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2. This guidance makes clear that school and college Designated Safeguarding Leads should receive training that supports their understanding of the lasting impact that adversity and trauma can have on a children’s behaviour, mental health and wellbeing, and what is needed in responding to this in promoting educational outcomes. KCSIE also references the need for all staff to consider the impact of trauma on a child to inform their approach to safeguarding, including what support should be provided for that child.The department’s mental health and behaviour guidance also recommends for school staff to be aware of how potentially traumatic adverse childhood experiences can impact on children’s behaviour and education and the importance of schools providing early support to pupils at such times, and signposts to further information on supporting children through difficult life events. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.

Special Educational Needs: Admissions

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effects of long waiting lists of schools that are specialised for Special Educational Needs children on such children.

David Johnston: ​​The department recognises the importance of accessing timely and effective support to improve the experiences of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and their families.​Nationally, 17% of pupils are identified with some form of SEN, three quarters of whom receive SEN support from their mainstream school, funded from its own resources. Local authorities must ensure there are sufficient good school places for all pupils, including special schools and those with SEND. They are statutorily required to keep the services and provision for children and young people with SEND under review (including its sufficiency), working with parents, young people, and providers.​To go further in supporting local authorities to meet this duty, in the SEND and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department is committed to investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to fund new special and AP places and improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND, including announcing 41 new special free schools. This funding represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision.​The department has also collected new data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision, along with corresponding forecasts of demand for these places. This data will help the department to more effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.​Through these reforms, the department aim to ensure that placements for children and young people with SEND are sufficient to meet need, allowing them to access the right support, in the right setting, at the right time.

Childcare

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on (a) rolling out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024 and (b) extending 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024.

David Johnston: Since the Spring Budget 2023, the department has made good progress with preparations to roll out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024, and to extend the 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024. The department’s progress includes:Provided £204 million of additional funding in the 2023/24 financial year and will provide £288 million in 2024/25, in addition to the £4.1 billion that the government expects to provide by 2027/28 to facilitate the expansion of the new entitlements.Consulted on the new national funding formula that will be used to distribute funding for the entitlements for children aged 2 and under, and the local rules local authorities should follow when passing on this funding to providers. The department will shortly be publishing a response to the consultation and confirming final 2024/25 financial year hourly funding rates for local authorities.Consulted on amending the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework to support reform of the childcare market and published government’s consultation response. The consultation response confirmed that the Department is introducing a number of changes that will provide more flexibility and remove burdens for early years providers, while maintaining quality and safety standards.Brought into law the change of staff: child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds in England.Developed a range of new workforce initiatives including a new, national, multi-channel broadcast recruitment campaign, planned for the beginning of 2024, to boost interest in the sector and signup to early years and childcare apprenticeships.Announced that the childminder start-up grants scheme, which will provide financial support to new childminders entering the sector on or after 15 March 2023, will open for applications by Thursday 30 November 2023.Tabled amendments to primary legislation (via the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill) to allow childminders to work with more people and spend more time on non-domestic premises.Updated the Childcare Choices website so that parents can see exactly what additional childcare support they will be entitled to, using the updated website’s eligibility checker, based on the age of their child and earnings. The website now also gives parents the opportunity to sign up for regular updates letting them know when they should take action to make sure they are getting the support they are entitled to.  More information is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.Provided a further £12 million to local authorities this financial year to support them to effectively roll out the new offer and announced £100 million in capital funding for local authorities to support the delivery of the expansion of the 30-hours early years entitlement and of wraparound provision in maintained primary schools.Substantial and ongoing engagement with local authorities and the sector to support their preparations for providing more places.Further information on the rollout can be accessed at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/07/free-childcare-how-we-tackling-the-cost-of-childcare/.

Skills Bootcamps

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people (a) attended and (b) completed a Skills Bootcamps in each region in the last 12 months.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people (a) attended and (b) completed Skills Bootcamps in each year since 2021.

Robert Halfon: On 9 November 2023, the department published a statistical release, which shows we exceeded our target, with a total of 40,040 Skills Bootcamps learner starts for the 2022/23 financial year. A start is an instance of training, not the number of individuals trained.This data release only covers the number of Skills Bootcamps starts. Further breakdowns by region will be provided in the evaluation report, which will be published next year. A further release will be published later next year covering completions and outcomes data for this cohort.In 2021/22, there were a total of 16,120 Skills Bootcamps learner starts. A data release will be published in early 2024 covering completions and outcomes information for the 2021/22 financial year.

Special Educational Needs: Central Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to support Central Bedfordshire Council with SEND provision.

David Johnston: The department has appointed a specialist Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) adviser to work alongside an NHS England SEND adviser to advise, support and challenge the Central Bedfordshire local partnership to rapidly improve its SEND provision.Central Bedfordshire is also part of the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme, which aims to support local authorities to improve SEND services for children and young people while ensuring services are sustainable. This programme provides dedicated support and funding by the department, in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.On 2 March 2023, the department published the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan which set out what the department will do to make sure more children and young people with SEND or in AP get the support they need.The department is testing key reforms through the nine Change Programme Partnerships (CPPs) announced as part of the £70 million Change Programme. Central Bedfordshire is one of those CPPs, working with Bedford and Luton. Each CPP is being supported with funding of approximately £6.3 million between now and March 2025.

Carers: Finance

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to p.19 of the Stable Homes, Built on Love consultation, published in February 2023, how will the investment of £9 million for training and support for kinship carers be spent.

David Johnston: Following on from the progress and positive impact of the peer-to-peer support contract, the department will deliver a package of training and support that all kinship carers in England can access if they wish to, regardless of whether they have a legal order in place. This will go live from Spring 2024.​The department was successful in obtaining a supplier, providing the best value for money, to deliver the training commitment made in Stable Homes, Built on Love. The department will be working with the charity Kinship to deliver this £3 million programme of training and support.This programme will include online and face-to-face training on all aspects of kinship care.

Home Office

Asylum: Rwanda

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and related cases.

Robert Jenrick: Information regarding legal fees is published regularly.

Asylum

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2023 to Question 202263 on Asylum, if he will disaggregate the data on the geographic spread of asylum seekers in receipt of support into (a) legacy backlog and (b) flow cases.

Robert Jenrick: Information on asylum support location is held on a separate system to the caseworking information regarding backlog and flow cases. Combining these datasets can currently only be done at disproportionate cost. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.

Asylum: Advisory Services

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken steps to extend the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility contract beyond August 2023.

Robert Jenrick: Information on this contract is available at: AIRE - Advice Issue Reporting and Elligibility - Contracts Finder

Asylum: Biometric Residence Permits

Tahir Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was between an asylum claim being upheld and receipt of a biometric residence permit in the latest period for which data is available.

Robert Jenrick: The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

British Nationality

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people had their British citizenship removed for (a) conduct that causes harm to the UK and (b) fraud in each of the last five years.

Robert Jenrick: The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with powers to deprive a person of citizenship status only under the circumstances set out at sections 40(2) (if deemed to be conducive to the public good) and 40(3) (citizenship was obtained by means of fraud, false representation, or concealment of material fact) of the Act.Details on the numbers of conducive deprivation orders made under Section 40(2) of the Act, are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Seven reports have been published to date providing the number of deprivations of citizenship orders made up until the end of 2022 and are all published online. The latest can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-terrorism-disruptive-powers-report-2022Numbers of Section 40(3) deprivation orders can be found in quarterly published transparency data at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration

Spiking

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 198094 on Spiking, on what date he plans to publish the statutory report on spiking.

Laura Farris: The Government will produce and publish a report on the prevalence and nature of spiking and the action that we are taking to tackle it.The report is yet to be laid before Parliament, but we aim to do so by the end of the year. I will of course write to the Home Affairs Select Committee when I am able to confirm a specific date.

Fast Food: Crimes of Violence

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of assaults in fast-food outlets at (a) night and (b) other times.

Chris Philp: Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For assaults in fast-food outlets, this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects where appropriate to do so.The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications these incidents can have on businesses as well as the victims.The Government took a significant step and legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences.We have record ever police numbers across England and Wales.

Home Office: Advertising

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on advertisements on each radio station in each of the last five years.

Chris Philp: We do not hold the detailed breakdown of cost on advertising for each radio station due to the way the media inventory is bought from suppliers via our media agency.

Fireworks: Crime

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of firework-related crime; and what steps her Department is taking to help tackle firework-related crime.

Chris Philp: Recent reports of protesters firing fireworks are wholly unacceptable. In some cases, fireworks have been aimed towards police and have injured officers. The Government fully condemns this behaviour and supports police in their robust use of powers to tackle disruptive activity of this kind.It is a criminal offence for any person to throw, cast or fire a firework in a street or public place. The police have the power to arrest anyone who breaks this law. The Government has been in regular contact with the police over the use of their powers to manage disruption during protests.The Government regularly reviews legislation to ensure it safeguards the public and adequately reflects challenges that are likely to be faced today. As such, where gaps in legislation are identified, we will seek to address them.More generally, the Government's intention has always been to minimise any negative impact of fireworks and we support their considerate use, reducing the risks and disturbances to individuals, animals, and property.

Demonstrations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to bring forward legislative proposals to allow the Government to ban protests in absence of a request from the requisite police commissioner.

Chris Philp: The Government has been in regular contact with the police over the use of their powers to manage protests. Where we identify gaps in the legislation, we will seek to address them.

Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to reduce abuse targeted at retail staff relating to shoplifting.

Chris Philp: The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications these incidents can have on businesses as well as the victims.Police forces across England and Wales have recently committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. For shoplifting and assaults in retail, this could include reviewing CCTV evidence and using the Police National Database for facial searches to identify suspects.On 23 October, the National Police Chiefs Council launched their Retail Crime Action Plan; which includes a police commitment to prioritise attending the scene of retail crime instances where violence has been used; where an offender has been detained; or where evidence needs to be promptly secured and can only be done in person by police personnel.The Government took a significant step and legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences.

Productivity in Policing Review

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the date by which he will next receive an update on the independent policing productivity review.

Chris Philp: The Policing Productivity Review was commissioned in August 2020 to produce clear, practical, and deliverable recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of policing functions. They have provided their report to the Home Office, which has now been published.The Government welcomes this review and is supportive of any effort to reduce bureaucracy and make it easier for the police to do their jobs. The Home Office is considering each of the recommendations and will engage with relevant stakeholders to respond to the report in due course.

Fisheries: Migrant Workers

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of migrant workers within the domestic fishing sector.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does publish data on sponsored work visas by occupation and industry in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the grants of sponsored work visas are published in table ‘Occ_D02’ of the sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset. Selecting ‘9119 - Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations n.e.c’ from the occupation filter will output data on visas granted to professionals coming to work in the domestic fishing sector. Time frames can be filtered. It is important to note that these figures may include non-fishing occupations and are for people operating within UK territorial waters under a skilled worker visa. People operating outside UK territorial waters require only a transit visa and these figures are a subset of the data on transit visas found in ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset.

Hate Crime

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to publish a Hate Crime Action Plan.

Laura Farris: We will not be publishing a new Hate Crime Strategy because the Government is focussed on improving the police response to all crime. This approach represents the best use of public money, and the Government remains committed to continuing to protect all communities from crime. We expect the police to investigate these abhorrent offences and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law. Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting police by providing them with the resources they need. This has included the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023.

Asylum: Rwanda

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of establishing the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.

Robert Jenrick: The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial investment of £120m into its economic development and growth as part of the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF). Investment has been focused in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, and job creation. A separate advance payment of £20m was also paid last year to support initial set up costs for the relocation of individuals. Funding will also be provided to support the delivery of asylum operations, accommodation, and integration in Rwanda. Costs and payments will depend on the number of individuals relocated, the timing of when this happens, and the outcomes of individual cases. Actual spend will be reported as part of the annual Home Office Reports and Accounts in the usual way. We will not enter into speculation as to what the final costs of the partnership may be nor provide a running commentary.

Internet: Antisemitism and Radicalism

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the potential feasibility of setting up a dedicated unit to focus on disrupting (a) Bitmasks and (b) other online platforms that have the potential to spread (i) antisemitism and (ii) radicalisation.

Tom Tugendhat: The Online Safety Act recently received Royal Assent. Under the Online Safety Act tech companies will be accountable to an independent regulator, Ofcom, to keep their users safe. Platforms will be required to take action to prevent the proliferation of illegal content online, including terrorist content, and ensure their services are not used for offending. This means that companies will need to mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share illegal content. Ofcom will have a tough suite of enforcement powers to use against companies who fail to fulfil their duties.The Home Office builds relationships with a range of online platforms to tackle online harms including to reduce the availability and accessibility of radicalising content online. It would not be appropriate to comment on the specific status of our relationships with individual companies at this time.The Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) identifies, assesses and refers online content that is in breach of UK terrorism legislation to tech companies for removal, in accordance with platforms’ terms and conditions.The Government stays abreast of developments in technology and the way in which technology is exploited for harm, in order to adapt Government’s approach to tackling online harms, where appropriate.This Government is clear that all forms of hate crime, including antisemitism, are completely unacceptable and we are committed to tackling these abhorrent offences. The Government is clear that online offending is as serious as offline offending, which is why we fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.

Fraud: Crime Prevention

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to announce the Government's new anti-fraud champion.

Tom Tugendhat: We will appoint a new anti-fraud champion in due course.Tackling fraud remains a priority for this department and we are continuing to work with industry, intelligence agencies, law enforcement and all partners to deliver the actions we committed to in the Fraud Strategy.

Refugees: Loans

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugee integration loans were made in each of the last 5 years for which information is available.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of refugee integration loans have been repaid in each of the last 5 years.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does not hold the data requested in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Buildings: Safety

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the recommendations from phase one of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry have been implemented.

Chris Philp: The Government published the 6th bi-annual progress tracker on implementation of the Phase 1 recommendations on 29 June on gov.uk and Fire England.This reported that 31 of the 46 recommendations have been completed overall. This includes the following completion rates:· 10 out of 15 recommendations for Government.· 13 out of the 14 for LFB only.· 1 out of the 9 for all fire and rescue services (FRSs). FRSs have, however, reported completion rates of 91% of their actions on average, but national recommendations cannot be signed off as complete until all 44 services have completed all actions in full.7 out of 8 for other bodies including other emergency services.Government remains committed to overseeing the delivery of all of the Phase 1 recommendations. The 7th tracker is due to be published shortly and will report on the further progress made by FRSs and Government.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Western Sahara: Conflict Resolution

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to UNSC resolution 2703, if his Department will act as a mediator with (a) Algeria and (b) other stakeholders to help find a solution to the Western Sahara conflict.

David Rutley: The UK supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 2703 on 30 October, which renewed the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) mandate for 12 months. The UK supports UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, based on compromise, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. We strongly support the work of Staffan de Mistura, Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General and welcome the recent efforts of all concerned to engage with the Envoy and to facilitate his recent visits to the region, including to Western Sahara. We will continue to engage key partners to encourage constructive engagement with the political process.

Israel: Palestinians

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths of Palestinian civilians (a) without a ceasefire and (b) with weekly pauses between 14 November and 14 December 2023.

David Rutley: We have no means of independently verifying exact casualty numbers, and it is difficult for organisations like the UN to accurately verify estimates in Gaza. We recognise that there have been significant civilian casualties. We have been consistently clear that all sides must make all possible efforts to protect civilians and must abide by their international obligations and respect International Humanitarian Law. The UK is continuously assessing needs and advocating for access routes to be established into Gaza, sufficient levels of humanitarian assistance to flow into Gaza and calling for humanitarian pauses to allow aid to be safely distributed within Gaza. The UK Government has already announced £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Gaza: Humanitarian Aid

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza strip; and what steps he is taking to support (a) Islamic Relief, (b) the Egyptian Red Crescent and (c) other aid agencies to deliver aid.

David Rutley: The United Nations assesses that 2.3 million people in Gaza need access to safe drinking water and food. Current supplies are running out, one third of hospitals have been forced to shut down and 1.6 million people are displaced. The FCDO is actively engaging with international partners and those operating on the ground to do all we can to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary continue to engage regularly and closely with regional counterparts including Israel and Egypt on the humanitarian response. The UK Government has already announced £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of aid including lifesaving items such as wound care packs and water filters but also forklift trucks, belt conveyors and lighting towers, which have been specifically requested by the Egyptian Red Crescent. However, the flow of aid to Gaza continues to be insufficient and we are urgently exploring all options to increase this, including urging Israel to open other border crossings such as Kerem Shalom.

India: Christianity

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of persecution of Christians in India; and what steps he is taking to help support persecuted Christians in India.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all and promoting respect and tolerance between different religious and non-religious communities. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, discussed human rights with the Government of India, leaders of faith groups and others during his visit to India in May. Where we have issues, we raise them directly with the Government of India, including at Ministerial level. The British High Commission in New Delhi and our network of Deputy High Commissions across India, consistently monitor human rights in the country, regularly engage with civil society and religious representatives, and have run projects supporting human rights.

Gaza: Refugees

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help facilitate the return of non-British nationals in Gaza who are resident in the UK.

David Rutley: We are focused on the safe evacuation of British Nationals from Gaza as quickly as possible, and over 150 British Nationals have left via the Rafah Border Crossing. Whilst we remain in close contact with the Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian authorities, who hold responsibility for the Rafah border crossing operation, we are not able to control the responsible authorities at the border. In conversations with their counterparts, the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have reinforced the importance of ensuring that all foreign nationals are able to evacuate Gaza safely, as well as ensuring that humanitarian aid urgently reaches those who need it most in Gaza. We are continuing to raise this at the highest levels.

Gaza and Israel: International Law

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the statement by UN Special Rapporteurs on Gaza on 2 November 2023.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help ensure the protection of children in Gaza.

David Rutley: The UK is steadfast in its position that all parties must uphold International Humanitarian Law and we call on our friends and partners to do so. Israel has the right to defend itself proportionately and its military operations must be conducted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. All parties to a conflict must ensure that their actions are proportionate and necessary, affording innocent civilians the protection that is their right under international law. Civilians must be respected and protected. Both the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians. The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has stated that Israel will operate in accordance with international law. The UK Government is closely following the security situation in the Middle East and maintains a regular dialogue with international counterparts. The Foreign Secretary and his ministerial team continue to receive legal advice on all matters related to foreign policy, including the situation in Israel and Gaza. We will continue to use all the tools of British diplomacy to sustain the prospects of peace and stability in the region.

West Bank: Violence

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart about changes in the level of settler violence in the West Bank.

David Rutley: Our position is clear: we strongly condemn any incidence of violence against settlers by Palestinians. Reports of Palestinian civilians being murdered by settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) are appalling. Israel must take tangible steps to grip settler violence, and to hold those responsible accountable. The Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have raised this with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Cohen, and we have also stressed the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population. As the Prime Minister said, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are also victims of Hamas. We continue to urge all sides not to take steps which would inflame tensions and move us away from the cause of peace.

Gaza: Israel

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for International Development on 8 November 2023, what recent assessment his Department has made that the (a) proportionality and (b) necessity of the actions of the Israeli Defence Force.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the agency's concern that Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp could amount to war crimes.

David Rutley: The UK is steadfast in its position that all parties must uphold International Humanitarian Law and we call on our friends and partners to do so. Israel has the right to defend itself proportionately and its military operations must be conducted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. All parties to a conflict must ensure that their actions are proportionate and necessary, affording innocent civilians the protection that is their right under international law. Civilians must be respected and protected. Both the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians. The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has stated that Israel will operate in accordance with international law. The UK Government is closely following the security situation in the Middle East and maintains a regular dialogue with international counterparts. The Foreign Secretary and his ministerial team continue to receive legal advice on all matters related to foreign policy, including the situation in Israel and Gaza. We will continue to use all the tools of British diplomacy to sustain the prospects of peace and stability in the region.

Gaza: HIV Infection and Tuberculosis

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of of the impact of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on the delivery of HIV and TB services.

David Rutley: We have no means of independently assessing the impact of the crisis on medical services however we are aware of World Health Organisation (WHO) reporting on the significant impact the crisis is having on the delivery of medical services and wider aid. The UK continuously assesses needs as part of our humanitarian response in Gaza and there is an urgent requirement for the entry of significantly more aid. At this stage, we are focused on getting more aid through the Rafah crossing and other land routes, which is the most effective way of getting humanitarian support in at scale. We are also urging Israel to open other border crossings, such as Kerem Shalom, to enable more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in need. This is still not enough to meet the immediate needs of the population and we support pauses in hostilities to improve access to humanitarian assistance for all people in need.

Gaza and Israel: International Law

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the statement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the Israel-Palestine conflict of 10 October 2023.

David Rutley: The UK is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC). We respect the independence of the Court. The UK is committed to International Humanitarian Law, and we call on our friends and partners to do the same. The UK remains committed to the Two-State Solution as the best way to bring peace and stability to the region and importantly, between Israelis and Palestinians.

Gaza and Israel: International Law

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held discussions with his counterpart in Israel on allegations of collective punishment in Gaza and compatibility with international law.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Case Study Israel/OPT: Identifying the Israeli army’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza, published by Amnesty International on 13 October 2023, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of reports of the use of white phosphorous by Israel.

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has held discussions with his counterpart in Israel on the alleged use of white phosphorous and its compatibility with international law.

David Rutley: The UK is steadfast in its position that all parties must uphold International Humanitarian Law and we call on our friends and partners to do so. Israel has the right to defend itself proportionately and its military operations must be conducted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. All parties to a conflict must ensure that their actions are proportionate and necessary, affording innocent civilians the protection that is their right under international law. Civilians must be respected and protected. Both the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians. The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has stated that Israel will operate in accordance with international law. The UK Government is closely following the security situation in the Middle East and maintains a regular dialogue with international counterparts. The Foreign Secretary and his ministerial team continue to receive legal advice on all matters related to foreign policy, including the situation in Israel and Gaza. We will continue to use all the tools of British diplomacy to sustain the prospects of peace and stability in the region.

Gaza: Internally Displaced Persons

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help ensure that Palestinians displaced during the conflict in Gaza will be able to return to their homes.

David Rutley: Our focus right now is getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and to Palestinian civilians there, given United Nations assessments that 2.2 million people in Gaza need access to safe drinking water and food. Since 7 October, the UK Government has already announced an additional £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in responding to critical food, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.The Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with his Israeli counterparts to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. The UK position is also clear: all sides must abide by their international obligations and all sides must respect International Humanitarian Law. Both the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with their Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians.

Gaza: Hospitals

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help ensure the protection of hospitals in Gaza.

David Rutley: The UK is aware of the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting which has documented a number of attacks against health care facilities since 7 October. The UK is clear that civilian infrastructure including hospitals and medical facilities, shelters and water and sanitation systems must be protected in conflict. We have consistently urged Israel to ensure it adheres to International Humanitarian Law and takes all possible precautions to protect civilians, recognising that Hamas is embedded in parts of the civilian population. All states, including Israel, must exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in accordance with International Humanitarian Law and distinction must be made between civilians and combatants and only direct attacks against suspected combatants and other military objectives are to be made. The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has stated that Israel will operate in accordance with international law. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with their Israeli counterparts and have emphasised the importance of this.

Humanitarian Aid: Older People

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reach older people with targeted humanitarian and social protection support and (b) ensure data on humanitarian and social protection is (i) age-disaggregated and (ii) inclusive of older people.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK works to ensure that all humanitarian assistance reaches the most vulnerable, including those who are vulnerable because of their age. FCDO works with governments and partners to strengthen and expand inclusive social protection systems to reach more vulnerable people, including older people.The FCDO is signed up to and provides a leading role as a co-facilitator of the Inclusive Data Charter which commits the FCDO to collecting data disaggregated by gender, disability, age and geography where possible. We currently do not have comprehensive age disaggregated data at an aggregate level but continue to work with partners to collect more disaggregated data, including on age, in a standardised way.

Development Aid: Refugees

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of refugee hosting costs on his Department's aid budget.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: In 2022, £3,690 million of Official Developmental Assistance (ODA) was in the form of in-donor refugee costs (28.8 per cent of the UK's total £12.8 billion ODA in 2022). To help meet some of the unanticipated refugee costs, the UK is providing an extra £2.5 billion of ODA over 2022 and 2023.The FCDO has worked hard to minimise the impact of reductions to its ODA budget by reprioritising spend in line with the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy. The FCDO's ODA programme spend for 2022-23 and planned ODA allocations until 2024-25 are set out in Annex A of the FCDO's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23.

Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the sentencing of (a) Niloufar Hamedi and (b) Elaheh Mohammadi in Iran.

David Rutley: Iran remains an FCDO Human Rights Priority Country and we raise human rights issues with Iran at all appropriate opportunities. The sentencing of Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi demonstrates the brutal reality of life in Iran for journalists. As a Media Freedom Coalition member, we continue to stress the protection of journalists as a key pillar of human rights infrastructure, and to call for the immediate release of arbitrarily detained journalists. We continue to hold the Iranian authorities to account for their treatment of women. In September, we imposed sanctions on decision-makers responsible for drafting and implementing Iran's mandatory hijab law.

Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh: Humanitarian Situation

Clive Lewis: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the level of humanitarian need in (a) Nagorno-Karabakh and (b) Armenia since September 2023.

Leo Docherty: The UK remains concerned for the welfare of those in Nagorno-Karabakh affected by limited access to supplies following September's military action in the region. We welcome Azerbaijan's decision to grant UN access into Nagorno-Karabakh and encourage them to continue supporting international efforts to address humanitarian need. We also welcome Armenian and international assistance provided to the 100,000 or more people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia. The UK is providing £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide life-saving medication, healthcare and other essential support. We are liaising with the UN, ICRC and others to further assess humanitarian need in the region.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.

David Rutley: The following table includes the number of lost or stolen devices in FCDO in the last year. LostStolenTotal cost to replaceLaptops174250,821.78Mobile phones1343777,575.86Memory sticks000External hard drives000All departmental IT is fully security encrypted.FCDO IT and Security teams record and investigate each reported loss from the Department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.Any mobile device reported as lost is immediately and remotely deactivated and the contents deleted. The user account on any laptop reported as lost is immediately and remotely locked.

Algeria: Migrant Camps

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the ACAPS Briefing Note: Algeria: Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf, published on 9 January 2022, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to help ensure (a) independent and (b) continuous human rights monitoring in the Tindouf camps in Algeria.

David Rutley: The UK Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps, as we regularly make clear to the parties. We have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara. The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law and international human rights standards and to avoid any action that may endanger human life. We regularly discuss migration and treatment of refugees with partners, including through our embassies, and we remain committed to supporting them to manage this effectively.

Gaza: Civilians

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the (a) United Nations Relief and Works Agency and (b) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the number of civilians present in (i) Gaza City and (ii) northern Gaza.

David Rutley: We have no means of independently verifying numbers and it is difficult for organisations like the UN to accurately verify numbers. The UK, however, remains committed to the safety and security of those in Gaza and our focus right now is getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and to ordinary Palestinians there. Since 7 October, the UK Government has already announced an additional £30 million in humanitarian funding and has sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in responding to critical food, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. We further maintain regular contact with both the UNRWA and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on a full range of issues relating to conflict in Israel and the OPTs.

Gaza: Telecommunications

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help prevent communications blackouts in Gaza.

David Rutley: We are deeply concerned about the reports that fuel shortages and power will cause already weakened telecommunications and internet services to completely cease shortly. This would deepen the already significant humanitarian crisis and further cut off Gaza from the rest of the world. The UK continues to press our Israeli counterparts at all levels to allow fuel into Gaza, adhere to International Humanitarian Law and allow sustained humanitarian access to Gaza for vital supplies including fuel.

Members: Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Harrow West of 20 October 2023 and 31 October 2023 on the the detention of his constituent overseas.

David Rutley: We are grateful to the honourable Member for bringing this matter to our attention. Whilst we are unable to locate the correspondence of 20 October (it would be appreciated if this could be re-sent to fcdo.correspondence@fcdo.gov.uk), the Minister for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, will reply to the honourable Member's correspondence of 31 October in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines. We remind the honourable Member that we provide MPs with a dedicated hotline for enquiries of a more urgent nature.

Hamas: Hostage Taking

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to support the Red Cross to gain access to the hostages taken by Hamas since 7 October 2023.

David Rutley: We continue to do everything we can to secure the release of all hostages, this includes working with all relevant actors to support release. We are not commenting on individual cases.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Civil Servants

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.

David Rutley: The requested data is published in the public domain.Permanent DFID/FCO Employees: DFIDFCOMarch 201116105790March 201619605490March 202026106420

Development Aid: Nutrition

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has plans to increase the amount of Overseas Development Assistance that goes towards nutrition.

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has a target for the provision of nutrition services to vulnerable (a) children, (b) adolescents and (c) women in 2024.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The FCDO is implementing our 2021 Nutrition for Growth commitment to spend at least £1.5 billion between 2022 and 2030 on addressing the nutrition needs of mothers, babies, and children, tackling malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies. The FCDO is also committed to integrating nutrition objectives into multiple sectors, including health, economic and agricultural development, humanitarian, climate, and education, tackling all forms of malnutrition, and to track and report on this. The UK does not have targets to reach vulnerable children, adolescents nor women with nutrition services.The Government is committed to returning ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI once the fiscal situation allows.

Malnutrition

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using the Global Food Security Summit to reduce malnutrition worldwide.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Our assessment is that the Global Food Security Summit will focus international attention on the global food security and nutrition crisis and help boost efforts to achieve Zero Hunger and end malnutrition (Sustainable Development Goal 2). It will galvanise support for lasting solutions that prevent famine, wider food insecurity and malnutrition. The Summit will focus on new approaches to ending preventable deaths of children from acute malnutrition.

Development Aid

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral Official Development Assistance has been spent in each year since 2010.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Data on Official Development Assistance (ODA) is provided in the FCDO "Statistics on International Development (SID)" publication. Table 1 provides a breakdown of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) by bilateral and multilateral channels between 2010 and 2022. This information is also available on GOV.UK.Table 1: Total UK ODA: by type (bilateral, multilateral), 2010 - 2022 (£ millions) 2010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022 Total Bilateral ODA5,1905,2605,5606,7216,8227,6628,5348,7959,22910,4039,5327,2349,640 Total Multilateral ODA3,3393,3693,2424,6864,8784,4734,8435,2565,3134,7724,9454,1893,156 Total UK ODA8,5298,6298,80211,40711,70012,13613,37714,05114,54215,17614,47711,42312,795 Source: Statistics on International Development

Tuberculosis: Diagnosis

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the World Health Organisation's 2023 Global Tuberculosis report, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of people diagnosed with tuberculosis globally.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the World Health Organisation's 2023 Global Tuberculosis report, what steps Government is taking to help increase global access to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis treatments.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is committed to ending the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Through our £1 billion funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's seventh replenishment, the UK will help to provide treatment and care for more than one million people with tuberculosis. In addition we also fund catalytic interventions through Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and MedAccess to bring down the prices of new TB products and tackle barriers to widespread access. We also provide funding to TB Reach to support innovative projects towards finding missing Tuberculosis cases.

Tuberculosis: Medical Treatments

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, , with reference to the World Health Organisation's 2023 Global Tuberculosis report, what steps the Government is taking to help reduce the cost of treatment for people with tuberculosis globally.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is committed to ending the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Through our £1 billion funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's seventh replenishment, the UK will help to provide treatment and care for more than one million people with tuberculosis. In addition we also fund catalytic interventions through Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and MedAccess to bring down the prices of new TB products and tackle barriers to widespread access. We also provide funding to TB Reach to support innovative projects towards finding missing Tuberculosis cases.

Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the World Health Organisation's 2023 Global Tuberculosis report; and whether his Department plans to take steps to help support the WHO's End TB Strategy.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK Government was pleased to see that the 2023 Global Tuberculosis report showed 7.5 million people were diagnosed and treated for Tuberculosis (TB) in 2022, the highest number since WHO started collecting the data in 1995, and also a slight reduction in the number of people dying from TB, from 1.4 million in 2021 to 1.3 million in 2022. The UK supports the WHO's End TB Strategy through our £1 billion funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, other complementary investments to bring down the prices of key TB products and tackle barriers to access, funding to the TB Reach Initiative, and funding for Research and Development, including to the TB Alliance Product Development Partnership.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to enable ratification of the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK was pleased to be among the first signatories to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement when it opened for signature at the UN on 20 September 2023 and the Agreement was laid before Parliament for scrutiny on 16 October 2023. Work is in hand on the legislation and other measures needed to translate the detailed and complex provisions of the Agreement into UK law before we can ratify the Agreement, which will be taken forward when parliamentary time allows.

Egypt: Refugees

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Egyptian counterpart on creation of a safe haven for refugees in that country.

David Rutley: The former Foreign Secretary was in frequent contact with Foreign Minister Shoukry about the situation in Gaza, including about provision of humanitarian aid through the Rafah border crossing. The Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly. The Egyptian government is clear, including in public statements, that it does not see movement of refugees into Egypt as a solution to the humanitarian crisis. We are working closely together to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza through Rafah, while facilitating the crossing of British Nationals and other foreign nationals for evacuation to third countries.

Gaza and Israel: Religious Freedom

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on freedom of religion and belief in Israel and Gaza of the destruction of sites of worship.

David Rutley: We have no means of independently assessing the impact of the crisis on freedom of religion and belief however we are aware of reporting that religious sites have been hit. The UK position is clear: civilian infrastructure including places of worship must be protected in conflict. All states, including Israel, must exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with their Israeli counterparts on this issue. Our focus right now is getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, securing the release of British hostages and showing solidarity with Israel in defending itself against Hamas.

India: Visits Abroad

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department gave advice to the Business and Trade Select Committee on visiting India.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The FCDO provided advice on visiting India to the Business and Trade Committee in August 2023. This was done through the usual channel of FCDO's Select Committee Liaison.

Gaza: Internally Displaced People

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on supporting people who have been displaced by the conflict in Gaza to return to their homes when it is safe to do so.

David Rutley: Our focus right now is getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. The most recent assessment of the United Nations is that the entire population of Gaza, some 2.2 million people, need access to safe drinking water and food. Since 7 October, the UK Government has announced an additional £30 million of humanitarian funding and sent more than 51 tonnes of emergency relief for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). This funding will support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other trusted partners to respond to critical food, water, health, shelter and protection needs in Gaza.The Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with his Israeli counterparts to press for humanitarian access to ensure the delivery of aid in the volume needed. The UK position is also clear: all sides must abide by their international obligations and all sides must respect International Humanitarian Law. Both the Prime Minister and the former Foreign Secretary have, in their discussions with Israeli counterparts, emphasised the importance of taking all possible measures to protect civilians.

Israel: Palestinians

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the administrative detention of Palestinians.

David Rutley: The Government's position is clear: all states, including Israel, must exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with their Israeli counterparts on this issue. Our focus right now is securing sustained humanitarian access to Gaza, securing the release of British hostages and showing solidarity with Israel in defending itself against Hamas.

Israel: Palestinians

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) the treatment of Ahmad Manasra and (b) other related investigations into allegations of torture and human rights abuses in Palestine.

David Rutley: The Government's position is clear: all states, including Israel, must exercise their legitimate right to self-defence in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary will continue to engage regularly and closely with their Israeli counterparts on this issue. Our focus right now is securing sustained humanitarian access to Gaza, securing the release of British hostages and showing solidarity with Israel in defending itself against Hamas.

Commonwealth: Membership

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has received a recent update on countries that have applied to join the Commonwealth.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: There is a clear four-step process for those who wish to join the Commonwealth, managed by the Commonwealth Secretary-General and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Candidates are considered against the criteria for membership, including the Commonwealth values as set out in the Commonwealth Charter. Members are consulted as part of that process. Decisions on membership are made by consensus by all member states.

Mohammad Barakeh

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Israeli counterpart on the arrest of Mohammad Barakeh.

David Rutley: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories remain a human rights priority for the FCDO. Human rights are a crucial element underpinning the UK's foreign policy. We regularly raise concerns with the Government of Israel, where they exist, and we will continue to do so, including in relation to the Israel/Gaza conflict.

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps the Governement has taken to help secure the release of dual national Vladamir Kara-Murza.

Leo Docherty: The Government has consistently condemned Vladimir Kara-Murza's politically motivated conviction and called for his release since his arrest. The Prime Minister reiterated this in July following Mr Kara-Murza's failed appeal. We have regularly raised his case both with the Russian authorities and at multilateral fora, including the UN Human Rights Council on 13 November, and continue to do so at every available opportunity. The FCDO sanctioned 11 individuals in response to his sentencing and appeal as well as two individuals involved in his earlier poisoning. Consular officials remain in close contact with Mr Kara-Murza's wife Evgenia, who has met ministers and senior officials on multiple occasions.

Raymond Koh

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will hold discussions with the Malaysian authorities on the forthcoming trial relating to the abduction and disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh in 2017.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We work with the UN, G7, and other multilateral fora to promote FoRB. The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for FoRB, Fiona Bruce MP, has written to the Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK about the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh, lodging her interest on this issue.

Russia: Freezing of Assets

Liam Byrne: To ask the Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish legal advice he received on the seizure of Russian central bank assets.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK are continuing to pursue all lawful routes to make Russian assets available to support Ukraine's reconstruction. As part of this, it is important that Ministers are able to obtain full and frank legal advice in confidence to properly test a range of policy options. On this basis, we do not intend to publish any legal advice Ministers may receive on the seizure of Russian central bank assets.

Department for Business and Trade

Iron and Steel: Tees Valley

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent estimate she has made of when (a) her Department will reach an agreement with British Steel on and (b) work will begin on the construction of an arc furnace for processing steel on Teesside.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government made an extremely generous offer of support to British Steel earlier this year, to help them invest in a sustainable future. Since the offer was made, officials have continued to work intensively with British Steel to explore options. The detail of these conversations is highly confidential. British Steel’s plans for starting work on an electric arc furnace on Teesside are a commercial matter for the company.

Global Britain Investment Fund

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses have received funding from the Global Britain Investment Fund; and how much and what proportion of the Fund has been spent.

Greg Hands: The Global Britain Investment Fund (GBIF) was launched in April 2022 which brought together several pre-existing funds under one banner. Following the machinery of government change in February 2023, GBIF is now shared between the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. To date 110 businesses have received funding, with a total of £630m grant allocated and £169m so far claimed by recipients. As such, 72% of the £880m of funding for GBIF has been allocated and 19% has been paid to date.

Small Businesses: Apprentices

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to encourage (a) small retail and hospitality and (b) other small business to (i) take on apprentices and (ii) work as a consortium to support an apprentice.

Kevin Hollinrake: Government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This will support apprenticeships across all employers, including SMEs where we continue to pay at least 95% of their training costs. The Department for Education has removed the limit of funding 10 apprentices a year in SMEs and made it easier to register to take on an apprentice. Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training, and retention. The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail – The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.

Business: Insolvency

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses registered as insolvent in (a) 2019-2020 and (b) 2022-2023.

Kevin Hollinrake: The numbers of registered company insolvencies in the United Kingdom in the periods requested were:  England and WalesScotlandNorthern Ireland1 April 2019 – 31 March 202016,7269893641 April 2022 – 31 March 202322,8731,146198 Insolvent businesses also include trader (self-employed) bankruptcies. In England and Wales, there were 3,487 trader bankruptcies between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, while there were 1,301 trader bankruptcies between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023. Information on trader bankruptcies is sourced from Insolvency Service administrative systems. For Scotland and Northern Ireland, the administration of bankruptcies is devolved and therefore the relevant information is not held by the Insolvency Service.

Electric Vehicles: China

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of the European Commission anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicle imports from China on the UK electric vehicle sector.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: On the 4th of October the European Commission initiated an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of new battery electric vehicles from China. Officials will continue monitoring developments around the investigation and will assess its implications for the UK as more information is publicly available.The automotive industry is a vital part of our economy, and the Government is determined to ensure that the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing and continue to support industry through its longstanding programmes.

Department for Transport

Transport: North of England

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department held discussions with the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership before announcing Network North funding.

Huw Merriman: Following the announcement of Network North, we are working closely with our local delivery partners to progress projects plans including funding. Consultations and further discussions will be conducted, as appropriate, as the plans for projects are developed and finalised.

High Speed 2 Line

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the cancellation of phase 2a of HS2 on infrastructure contractor workforce levels.

Huw Merriman: The large majority of jobs on HS2 are currently working on the delivery of Phase 1 and the Prime Minister has confirmed that the government will complete Phase 1 of HS2 between Birmingham and London. The new investment plans outlined in Network North will provide significant opportunities for contractual work, creating job opportunities in a number of sectors across the range of projects in the delivery pipeline.

Railways: Trespass

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has taken steps to work with rail operators to tackle (a) trespass incidents and (b) the resultant disruption to rail services.

Huw Merriman: Network Rail (NR) and the wider rail industry collaborate to implement necessary mitigations against trespass and manage any disruption if these incidents occur. In the event of a trespass incident, operators and NR will issue extensive passenger communications, advising passengers of disruption and available options. Where disruption is predicted, or has begun to occur, contingency timetables will be implemented to ensure the maximum service possible can be operated. Every rail operator that manages stations has an obligation to obtain and maintain Secure Stations Accreditation, assessed by BTP, for a number of their stations. The scheme requires operators to demonstrate how they ensure their station has a defined perimeter through the use for example, of walls, fencing or hedging, as well as ensuring the built environment allows appropriate visibility and sightlines, has good CCTV coverage, and has anti-trespass warning notices displayed. Trespass can be either criminal, or because somebody is vulnerable and in crisis, therefore every operator is also required to obtain and maintain accreditation to the Safeguarding on Rail Scheme (SRS), again assessed independently by BTP. The scheme requires operators to demonstrate how they are actively supporting vulnerable people on their network.

Transport: North of England

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to include improvements in Lincolnshire as part of the funding allocated through Network North.

Huw Merriman: Lincolnshire will receive additional funding through a number of different funding streams and projects as part of Network North. Please some examples of funding below:Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) – £1 billion of additional funding for BSIPs in the North and the Midlands. Lincolnshire County Council has been indicatively allocated over £4.3 million for 2024/2025. Additionally, North East Lincolnshire Council has been indicatively allocated over £800,000 and North Lincolnshire Council allocated over £900,000 for 2024/2025.Highways Maintenance – £8.3 billion of additional capital funding for local highways maintenance activities, such as the resurfacing of local road networks. The additional funding will provide £2.2 billion in the Midlands and will be allocated from 2023/24 to 2033/34. Funding allocations for 2023/24 and 2024/25 and indicative total minimum funding allocations for the full period for local highway and combined authorities will be published on GOV.UK later this week.Local Integrated Transport Settlements (LITS) – this is a new £4.7 billion fund for the 27 local transport authorities, outside city-regions, in the North and Midlands. It will run for 7 years from 2025/26; funding allocations will be announced in due course.

Transport: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the projects in Network North have a business case.

Huw Merriman: Since the Government announced Network North on 4 October, the Department has been working closely with delivery bodies to establish plans for delivery. Announcements on progress of business cases and delivery will be made as schemes develop.

Transport: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the guidance entitled DfT value for money framework, published on 20 July 2017, how many and what proportion of the Network North projects have been assessed under this framework.

Huw Merriman: All Network North schemes will be subject to the development and approval of business cases and will undergo formal governance in line with relevant fiscal and legal duties. Benefit Cost Ratios (BCRs) and Value for Money (VfM) categories for Network North schemes will be assessed on an individual basis as part of business case development. We will share further details in due course.

Hydrogen Fuelling Stations

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the public usage of hydrogen refueling stations; and whether she has made an estimate of future usage of these stations over the next five years.

Anthony Browne: There are seven publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, which serve a fleet of approximately 230 vehicles, including buses, HGVs and light duty cars and vans. The Department most recently published illustrative future hydrogen demand ranges as part of the Government’s UK Hydrogen Strategy (2021), which projected between 0 and 6 TWh of future hydrogen demand from transport in 2030.

Transport: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether all projects cited in Network North will be funded from the £36 billion announced.

Huw Merriman: The Prime Minister set out that all of the savings from Phase 2 of HS2 will be spent on the schemes and projects announced as part of Network North. All schemes will be subject to the development and approval of business cases and will undergo formal governance in line with relevant fiscal and legal duties. Allocations may change as final plans and profiles are agreed.

Transport: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many projects in Network North are at design stage.

Huw Merriman: Teams are working through delivery schedules and phasing of spend with delivery partners and within the Government’s overall fiscal plan. We will share further information when that work is complete. All schemes and programmes announced as part of Network North will go through normal business case approval processes to ensure value for money. In terms of the more mature projects, we have already extended the £2 national bus fare cap, which will now continue to December 2024. We are also making £300m of funding available to improve the conditions of local roads across this financial year and next. Next financial year, there will also be an additional £150m of funding to support bus services through the Bus Service Improvement Plans.

Leeds Station: Standards

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 189285 on Leeds Station, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of capacity at Leeds railway station.

Huw Merriman: Further to my answer of 19th June, design work on the Leeds Existing Station Programme (LESP) is ongoing and an updated assessment of passenger capacity issues at Leeds Station will be included within the scheme’s Full Business Case, due for submission by the end of 2024.

Transport: North of England

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many projects in Network North have been costed.

Huw Merriman: We have already extended the £2 national bus fare cap, which will now continue to December 2024. We are also making £300m of funding available to improve the conditions of local roads across this financial year and next. Next financial year, there will also be an additional £150m of funding to support bus services through the Bus Service Improvement Plans.

Bus Services: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1195 on Bus Services: Finance, whether the £150 million of redirected HS2 funding formed part of his Department's Capital budget before 4 October 2023.

Huw Merriman: The £150 million of redirected HS2 funding did not form part of the Department’s Capital budget prior to 4 October 2023.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Potholes Fund; and how many potholes have been repaired through the Potholes Fund since its establishment.

Guy Opperman: The Government provides funding for local highway authorities to carry out their statutory duties. It is up to them to determine how this funding is used on their highway networks. Funding for highways maintenance, including the Potholes Fund, is unringfenced; the Department does not collect statistics on the number of potholes filled by each local authority. Further detail on how the Government plans to repair potholes was published on 17 November on https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8-billion-boost-to-repair-roads-and-back-drivers.

Cycling and Walking: Finance

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Active Travel in the 2023-24 financial year.

Guy Opperman: Active Travel England is an England only organisation. The Department for Transport has allocated a total of £112 million to Active Travel England in the 2023-24 financial year, comprising £54 million of capital and £58 million of revenue funding.

Taxis: Licensing

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the effectiveness of oversight of taxi licencing.

Guy Opperman: The Government is responsible for setting the regulatory structure within which 263 licensing authorities in England license the taxi and PHV trades. The Government issues guidance to assist authorities in carrying this out. The Government has set out the measures it expects licensing authorities to take to safeguard passengers through the publication of the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards in 2020. The Government has just published updated Best Practice Guidance for licensing authorities in England which encourages proportionate regulation to enable the sector to deliver safe, accessible, and affordable services that meet the differing needs of passengers. The Department for Transport engages regularly with taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities on a range of issues regarding the regulation of the sector. The Government remains committed to introducing legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to enable the setting of national standards in licensing, enhancing licensing authorities’ compliance and enforcement powers and to establish a national licensing database of all licensees.

Taxis: Licensing

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps with local authorities to ensure that taxi licencing processes support (a) passenger safety and (b) fair competition.

Guy Opperman: The Government set out the measures it expects licensing authorities to take to safeguard passengers through the publication of the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards in 2020. Public safety remains the priority of taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, and the Government is clear that where standards need to be high and rigorously applied, they must be. The Government has published updated Best Practice Guidance to assist licensing authorities in England. The updated guidance challenges licensing authorities to consider the necessity of some requirements that they place on the trade. This approach will provide a framework for fair competition and enable the trade to deliver the range of safe, available, affordable and accessible services required to meet the range of differing passenger needs.

Ports: Repairs and Maintenance

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has issued guidance to port owners on their responsibility to (a) maintain and (b) upgrade harbour facilities.

Guy Opperman: DfT publishes three core documents to support the ports sector: the Port Marine Safety Code, last updated in 2016 (with an update due in early 2024), the Guide to Good Practice on Port Marine Operations, last updated in 2018 (with an update due in mid-2024), and the Ports Good Governance Guide, last published in 2018.

Aviation: Fuels

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department are taking to help ensure that 10% sustainable aviation fuels are blended in the UK jet fuel mix by 2030.

Anthony Browne: Following a public consultation, in July 2022, Government confirmed that a sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) mandate would be introduced in 2025, requiring at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030. As part of our second consultation published in March 2023, we proposed a range of trajectories for the mandate from 2025 to 2040, all of which would deliver 10% SAF by 2030. We will confirm the trajectories in the forthcoming government response. We are also taking steps to develop a UK SAF industry and have a commitment to see at least five plants under construction by 2025. We have already funded 5 projects through the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF), each receiving a share of £82.5m, with an announcement on the second-round winners expected in November 2023. The Government recognises that uncertainty over future revenues remains a key barrier to investment in SAF production in the UK. In September, the Government committed to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism to support Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production in the UK. Alongside this announcement, the government published a delivery plan outlining the timeline for how such a mechanism could be delivered by 2026.

North Wales Coast Line: Electrification

Mr Rob Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timeline is for the electrification of the north Wales coast line.

Huw Merriman: We are working closely with the rail industry to develop and deliver on the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement. We are in the early stages of planning the next steps, including delivery timelines, for the North Wales electrification scheme and will share further information when that work is complete.

Sheffield Station: Standards

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 189286 on Sheffield Station, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of capacity at Sheffield railway station.

Huw Merriman: I recently approved £3.447m to develop options for enhancements at Sheffield station that can be delivered in the near term. Surveys and passenger timetable studies have now been completed by Network Rail and infrastructure proposals reviewed to support this. We are now progressing further design work on options that will increase the flexibility and capacity of Platforms 6 and 7, including associated track and signalling work, with a Decision to Deliver expected in early 2025. These infrastructure upgrades will improve the reliability and performance of the station resulting in local and regional benefits.In addition, we are also progressing a study which is considering longer term options for improving the capacity and resilience of the station.

Aviation: Fuels

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to open a consultation on the revenue certainty scheme for the sustainable aviation fuel programme.

Anthony Browne: We are on-track to consult on options to design and implement a revenue certainty mechanism to support a UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry by the end of April 2024. This will meet our statutory duty, as set out in the Energy Act 2023, to consult within six months of the Act receiving Royal Assent on 26 October.

National Highways: Pay

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance: Addendum Guidance 2023/24, updated 2 June 2023, if he will take steps to encourage the management of National Highways to award the fixed non-consolidated payment of £1,500 to its employees.

Anthony Browne: National Highways operates under different terms to the Civil Service, with its staff made up of Public rather than Civil Servants. A decision on whether to make a cost-of-living payment to staff is one for National Highways. However, last year National Highways awarded a 5% pay award with larger increases weighted towards lower paid staff. This was more than double the 2% (3% max) the Civil Service received. Given the pay award National Highways provided last year, along with the offer that has been put forward for the 2023/24 pay deal, National Highways made the decision it was unaffordable to offer the £1500 in addition to its annual pay award.

Railways: Ticket Offices

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1236 on Ticket Offices: Closures, what the cost to the public purse was of his Department (a) producing equality impact assessments and (b) meeting with relevant stakeholders regarding the Train Operating Companies' proposals to close ticket offices in England.

Huw Merriman: This was an industry led consultation and no estimate of costs are available for the work of the Department.

Manchester Piccadilly Station: Standards

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 189284 on Manchester Piccadilly Station, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of capacity at Manchester Piccadilly railway station.

Huw Merriman: The Manchester Task Force continues to address issues across the city, and Piccadilly remains a priority. Network Rail has recently started structural surveys as part of the development process to provide extra capacity and potential new street entrances. I expect to receive business cases during 2024.

Treasury

Credit Unions

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help (a) support and (b) promote credit unions.

Bim Afolami: The Government is a strong supporter of credit unions, recognising the vital role that they play in the financial wellbeing of their communities, providing savings and affordable loans to their members. The Government is committed to ensuring that credit unions are supported in maximising their growth and success. This summer, the Government amended the Credit Unions Act 1979 so that credit unions in Great Britain can offer a wider range of products and services. These changes allow credit unions to offer hire purchase agreements, conditional sale agreements, and insurance distribution services, diversifying their income streams. This will enable credit unions to continue to grow sustainably for the future and supports them in the vital role they play in financial inclusion. Additionally, to date, the Government has allocated £145 million in dormant assets funding to Fair4All Finance which works to improve the availability of affordable credit, including through support for community finance providers. The Government is continuing to work with credit unions and other industry members to assess how we can best support the sector going forward.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Accommodation

Dame Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase prison capacity.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is adequate prison capacity for offenders.

Edward Argar: We are investing £4 billion in the biggest prison building programme since the Victorian era, including 6 new prisons – creating 20,000 new prison places and have already delivered c 5,600 of these, with 10,000 expected by the end of 2025. Over the last year, we have also brought on an additional 2,500 places through measures such as crowding and delaying refurbishment where it is appropriate to do so. On 16 October, the Lord Chancellor announced longer-term measures to reform the way we deliver justice and to address prison capacity. These measures put protecting the public at their heart – locking away the worst offenders for longer whilst having a renewed focus on rehabilitation for lower risk offenders, thereby reducing crime further. The measures announced include: the extension of the Early Removal Scheme for Foreign National Offenders; introducing a presumption against short sentences under 12 months (which have a high rate of reoffending) in favour of suspended sentences (which have lower reoffending rates); reviewing the sentencing discount given for early guilty pleas; the transfer of adult prisoners to rented prison space overseas; curtailing the licence period for IPP sentences; and extending the use of Home Detention Curfew (HDC). In addition, a new annual statement of prison capacity will be laid before both Houses. This will include a clear statement of current prison capacity and future demand. The Lord Chancellor also announced up to £400m funding for more prison places (enough to buy 800 new Rapid Deployment Cells) and £30m of funding has been set aside to allow the prison service to identify and purchase land in 2024 for new prisons.

Ministry of Justice: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.

Mike Freer: Please find the requested data summarised in the table below: LaptopsMobile PhonesMemory sticksExternal hard drivesLost1394400Stolen86700Total devices22551--Total cost of replacing£239,220.00£19,023-- The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has around 91,875 employees across the department. The proportion of lost and stolen devices therefore are low compared to this number.The MoJ, including its executive agencies (HM Courts & Tribunals Service, HM Prison & Probation Service, Legal Aid Agency, Office of the Public Guardian and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority) and smaller public bodies, treats lost or stolen devices seriously and have processes in place to ensure that when a device is reported as lost or stolen, action is taken immediately to disable the device.  All incidents are subjected to an initial security risk assessment with further action on a proportional basis.It is MoJ policy that all laptops and removable media are encrypted to minimise the impact if a loss were to occur. All mobile phones are deactivated once reported missing to minimise the impact if a loss was to occur.There is also published guidance on what to do which can be found via this link: https://security-guidance.service.justice.gov.uk/lost-devices-incidents/#lost-devices-or-other-it-security-incidents.

Legal Aid Scheme

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will include scope and fees in the review of civil legal aid.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his decision not to include (a) eligibility and (b) fees as part of his review of civil legal aid.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice is currently undertaking a Review of Civil Legal Aid to identify evidence-based options for moving to a more effective, efficient, and sustainable system for legal aid providers and the people who rely on legal aid. The Review will consider the civil legal aid system in its entirety: how services are procured, how well the current system works for users, how civil legal aid impacts the wider justice system, and whether the civil legal aid system offers a financially viable business option for legal aid providers. It will also consider the overall fee structures of the civil legal aid system. The scope of legal aid is not within the Review’s remit. In the interim, we are continuing to make improvements across the sector to ensure legal aid is available to those who need it. From 1 August 2023, the scope of legal aid was expanded, enabling people facing the loss of their home to receive early legal advice on housing, debt, and welfare benefits issues as well as representation in court. This means an increase in funding of up to £10m each year. In addition, we recently laid secondary legislation to bring Special Guardianship Orders brought in private law proceedings within scope of legal aid, injecting a further £13m into family legal aid per year. We have also broadened the evidence requirements for victims of domestic abuse applying for legal aid, making it easier for victims to evidence their claims. This will deliver on our commitments to support victims of domestic abuse and allow special guardians to access legal aid. Eligibility for legal aid was considered in the Legal Aid Means Test Review. The Ministry of Justice published the Government Response to the Review’s consultation exercise in May 2023, which set out the detailed policy decisions underpinning the new means-testing arrangements. When implemented, we estimate that spending on legal aid will rise by circa £25 million. This will increase the number of people eligible for civil legal aid in England and Wales by an additional 2.5 million.

Family Courts

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has commissioned independent research on the experience of litigants during and prior to entering the family court process since April 2013.

Mike Freer: The Department has regularly commissioned independent research on the experience of litigants during and prior to entering the family court process since April 2013. Most recently this includes: independent research undertaken as part of the 2020 report on Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases; externally commissioned research exploring The Factors Influencing Users’ Decisions to Bring Cases to the Civil and Family Courts published in 2023; and the Review of the Presumption of Parental Involvement due to be published in early 2024.Research conducted by, or on behalf of the MoJ, is published on ‘Research and statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)’ according to Government Social Research protocols.

Magistrates' Courts: ICT

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193166 on Magistrates' Courts: ICT, what the sentencing outcomes were of defendants in that data set who were convicted.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193166 on Magistrates' Courts: ICT, how many and what proportion of the defendants in that data set entered a guilty plea; how many and what proportion of those who entered a plea of not guilty were (a) granted bail or (b) remanded into custody; and what the outcomes were for each of those groups.

Gareth Bacon: This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs. It is not possible to interrogate the original data set provided under the previous answer so as to provide the specific answers requested. Defendants may be tried for multiple offences, with different pleas entered for different offences, and those pleas and the defendant’s remand status can change over time. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

National Tactical Response Group

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the National Tactical Response Group has been deployed in each year since 2018.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Tornado Teams have been deployed to incidents in prisons in England and Wales in each year since 2018.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many officers were serving in Tornado Teams at the end of each year since 2018.

Edward Argar: The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) are a specialist resource that provide intervention options to the Silver and Gold commanders. NTRG is a highly trained team that provide expertise in technical interventions that would carry higher risk of failure or injury, and which require skills and equipment limited only to NTRG staff. Operation Tornado is a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff. Operation Tornado is employed by HMPPS for three main reasons:In response to a serious incident requiring a reinforcement of staff.In response to other events or crisis requiring additional staff, who may not necessarily need to be Tornado trained.To aid the transfer of prisoners in the event of a serious incident or the threat of one (with the GOLD commander’s agreement). The table below lists how many times NTRG and Tornado Teams have been deployed, and how many staff were available for Operation Tornado at the end of each year since 2018.  YearNTRG DeploymentsOperation Tornado DeploymentsStaff available for Operation Tornado201862810231020197191022942020455620002021384416892022570915412023695 to 15 November 2023121592 to 15 November 2023 N.B. there was a reduction in staff available for Operation Tornado as training was reduced due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Animal Welfare: Convictions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of animal cruelty offences in relation to dog fighting since the implementation of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021.

Gareth Bacon: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of convictions of animal cruelty offences in relation to animal fighting, in each year since 2010, on principal offence basis, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022. However, it is not possible to provide information about dog fighting specifically, as this information is not centrally held in the Court Proceedings Database by the Ministry of Justice.To view the total number of convictions in relation to animal fighting, in the data tool navigate to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab. Using ‘HO offence code’ filter, select ‘09705 - Offences relating to animal fights’. The pivot table will now present the total number of convictions at all courts, since the implementation of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021.To view the total number of convictions in relation to animal fighting prior to the offence being reclassified, use HO offence code ‘10833 - Offences relating to animal fights (Reclassified)’

Prisoners' Release

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 823 on Prisoners' Release, what areas the End of Custody Supervised Licence will operate in.

Edward Argar: End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), first implemented on 17 October 2023, is operating in 21 prisons and is a temporary measure in response to the current pressure on some prisons. Its use is targeted, and it will only operate in certain areas for a limited period of time. The Government regularly releases data and information in relation to prisoners’ release in the Prison Releases (quarterly) publication. We are currently reviewing our publication of data around these issues.

Prison Accommodation

Dame Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of renting prison places overseas to help manage fluctuations in prisoner numbers.

Edward Argar: Renting prison spaces overseas has the potential to augment existing prison capacity and provide us with the prison spaces we need to manage our prison population, continue cracking down on crime, and protect the British public from the worst offenders. We are introducing powers that will allow the Government to deliver prison rental agreements with other countries in the Criminal Justice Bill. In doing so, we are following in the footsteps of countries like Norway and Belgium. This is alongside ongoing work to build 20,000 modern rehabilitative prison spaces - the biggest prison building programme since the Victorian Era – and our intention to invest a further £400m in building even more.

Prison Accommodation

Dame Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to learn from the experience of other countries in managing fluctuations in prisoner numbers.

Edward Argar: We are not the first country to face acute pressures in prison capacity. As a matter of course, the MoJ engages with international partners at both a ministerial and official level. Recently, we had the opportunity to meet with senior officials from New York City’s Department of Corrections to understand how they are addressing their own capacity challenges. This year, we have also strengthened relationships with countries across Europe and the rest of the world to explore innovations in respective prison estates, technology and legislation. This approach will continue moving forward. My officials are also engaging in regular discussions with international partners to share information on managing high prison capacity. We have announced that we will legislate as part of the Criminal Justice Bill to create the powers necessary to transfer prisoners overseas for the purposes of detaining them in a rented prison in future. This decision was informed by consideration of other countries, including the experience of Norway renting prison space from the Netherlands from 2015-2018 to manage an acute rise in prison population. Belgium has also previously rented prison spaces from the Netherlands to alleviate pressure on their prison capacity. We continue to look at every measure to best manage fluctuations in prison numbers including observing best practice in foreign countries.

Prison Officers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prison officers recruited in the last 12 months have left the prison service.

Edward Argar: In the period from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, there were 4,911 band 3-5 prison officers who joined HM Prison and Probation Service. Details of the number and proportion who have left the prison service (including YCS) as of 30th September 2023 are given in the table below. Table 1: Status of band 3-5 prison officers1 who joined between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023 - as of 30 September 2023 HeadcountStill working in the prison service (including YCS)24,382Not working in the prison service (including YCS) but still in HMPPS32Left HMPPS altogether527Total4,911Percentage of those no longer working in the prison service (including YCS)10.8% Notes1. Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.2. Even though these staff are still working in prison service (including Youth Custody Service) they may no longer be in prison officer roles due to staff movements etc3. These include staff moving to other areas of HMPPS such as Probation Service Appropriate staffing across our prison estate is vitally important. In line with Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, we are committed to recruiting up to 5,000 additional prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s in line with estate expansion. The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) prison officers has increased over time. As of 30 September 2023, there has been increase of 1,441 FTE (6.7%) since 30 September 2022. For prison officers, there has been an increase of 632 FTE (2.8%) compared to June 2023. Over the year to 30 September 2023, 5,377 band 3 to 5 offers were appointed (consisting of new recruits and existing staff who converted to a band 3 officer grade). Alongside this recruitment, we recognise the importance of retaining experienced staff. Since April 2022, we have invested in several initiatives, including new colleague mentors and a new peer to peer learning scheme, as well as focused leadership training in sites where staff attrition is highest. We have also made significant investments in pay to recognise the hard work of our staff. The 2023/24 Prison Service pay award was announced in July and delivered a 7% increase in the starting salary for an entry level prison officer on 39 hours, rising from £30,702 to £32,851 on the national pay scale. For band 3-5 officers, the resignation rate was 8.6% in the year ending 30 September 2023 which is a decrease of 1.2 percentage points since the year ending March 2023.

Department for Work and Pensions

Work Capability Assessment

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation entitled Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors, published on 5 September 2023, if he will make an estimate of the number of claimants that would no longer be found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity in (a) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom if each of the proposals in that consultation were implemented.

Tom Pursglove: DWP’s consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment closed on Monday 30 October. Over 1300 individuals and organisations submitted a response and 14 public consultation events were held, both face-to-face across Great Britain, and virtually. The consultation responses are now being considered and decisions will be taken in due course. The department has developed estimates of the impacts of these proposals on disabled people. We are continuing to refine these estimates as responses to the consultation are considered. This analysis is not available at a subnational level.

Disability

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to establish a long-term disability strategy from 2024.

Tom Pursglove: The Government set out its long-term disability strategy in the National Disability Strategy published in 2021. The National Disability Strategy sets out our ambition to improve the lives of all disabled people. In addition, the Government has recently completed a consultation on the Disability Action Plan, which will set out the immediate action the Government is taking this year and in 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change.

Access to Work Programme

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest waiting time was for an Access to Work decision in the latest period for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested about what the longest wait time was to apply for Access to Work is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Access to Work Programme

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what was the average time taken to make a decision on an Access to Work assessment from (a) October 2022 to March 2023 and (b) April 2023 to November 2023.

Tom Pursglove: The average time taken to make a decision on an Access to Work assessment from(a) October 2022 to March 2023 was 60.5 days(b) April 2023 to (end of) October 2023 was 47.0 days Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Cost of Living Payments: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Disability Cost of Living Payment.

Tom Pursglove: We continually monitor Cost of Living Payments and have already published Management Information on the number of payments and the amount spent for each type of payment. An evaluation of the Cost of Living Payments is underway. This will seek to understand their effectiveness as a means of support for low-income and vulnerable households.

Rented Housing: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the geographical scope of the Broad Rental Market Area around York in the context of recent trends in the level of rental costs.

Mims Davies: Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are set within Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs), which are determined by Rent Officers at the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for England and the Rent Services in Scotland and Wales. A BRMA is an area within which a person could reasonably be expected to live, having regard to facilities and services for the purposes of health, recreation, banking, and shopping, taking account of the difference of travel to and from those services by both public and private transport. Rent Officers have responsibility for monitoring, reviewing, and setting BRMA boundaries. A Local Authority can request a review of any BRMA that impacts on its administrative area. The request needs to be made in writing to the VOA, and a Rent Officer will then decide whether or not to accept it. Where the Rent Officer identifies the need to review a BRMA they must go through the review process and make the case to the Secretary of State for the change. The boundary change can only be implemented once the Secretary of State agrees. The overall level of LHA rates is reviewed annually by the Secretary of State. In 2020 the Government spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of rents. LHA rates were boosted by almost £1 billion in 2020, this significant investment has been kept annually to maintain rates. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities for those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

Housing Benefit: Non-payment

Jane Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle non-payment of housing benefit to district councils when the beneficiary is not a registered social landlord.

Mims Davies: There are no current plans to change subsidy rules in Supported Housing which are in place to help ensure quality and value for money for taxpayers. Under the Housing Benefit subsidy arrangements, DWP reimburses local authorities for the cost of Housing Benefit in their respective areas subject to the rules set out in legislation. For supported housing cases, 100% subsidy is usually paid to the local authority by DWP where the landlord or provider is registered with the Regulator for Social Housing in England. In cases where the landlord or provider is not registered, the subsidy will still be payable to local authorities, but will be restricted in line with the rules set out in legislation.

Universal Credit: Carers

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) family and (b) friend carers were subject to regulation 91(2)(e) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Carers

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) family and (b) friend carers affected by the changes to work conditionality rules for Universal Credit implemented on 25 October 2023 in (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25.

Jo Churchill: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Local Housing Allowance

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of annually increasing Local Housing Allowance at a rate greater than or equal to the rate of inflation.

Mims Davies: Local Housing Allowance policy is reviewed annually by the Secretary of State, and its impact is monitored regularly. It would not be appropriate to pre-empt the outcome of this review. In 2021/22 the Government spent almost £30 billion to support renters in both the private and social rented sector. This is forecast to rise to £31 billion in 2023/24. LHA rates were boosted by almost £1 billion in 2020, this significant investment has been kept annually to maintain rates. For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Cultural Heritage: Markets

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support culturally-significant markets in (a) Romford and (b) England.

Sir John Whittingdale: Heritage has a vital role to play in levelling up, and can act as a powerful catalyst for increasing opportunities and prosperity. Connecting people with their local heritage can help strengthen a sense of civic pride, identity, and ownership.Romford Market Square, High Street and North Street is designated as a conservation area and included on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, meaning that Historic England offers public funding for the repair and conservation of the asset at risk. It focuses its grants on those sites which are most in need of repair and which, without additional investment, would be at risk of deterioration.His Majesty’s Government is taking action in towns across England to protect culturally significant marketplaces. Historic England is delivering funding to markets across England through its £95 million High Street Heritage Action Zones programme. Towns such as Redruth, Skipton, Gosport and Newport are receiving funding to repair and restore their historic markets as part of a wider programme of regeneration of their high streets.The National Lottery Heritage Fund also supports a number of heritage projects relating to markets and their history in England. Since 1994, millions of pounds of National Lottery Heritage Fund investment has been awarded to support projects to improve the condition of England’s historic markets and to share their history with local residents and visitors alike.

Swimming: Children

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will made an estimate of the number and proportion of children aged 11 who can swim 50 metres unassisted.

Stuart Andrew: Sport England’s Active Lives Survey for Children and Young People collects annual data on the engagement in, and attitudes to, sport and physical activity. The release of the 2022-23 Active Lives data for Children and Young People is scheduled for 7 December.The Active Lives Survey captures swimming capability based on whether children can: swim; tread water; swim 25 metres unaided; and swim 200 metres unaided (the latter capturing years 7-11 only).The survey informs us that in the academic year 2021/22:Over 3 million infant and junior children could swim2.7 million could tread water1.8 million could swim 25 metres unaided1.5 million secondary school children could swim 200 metres unaided

Swimming: Children

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential correlation between children's swimming ability and their family's socio-economic status.

Stuart Andrew: We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity. Swimming can play an important role in achieving these targets, particularly among children.In recognition of the benefits of physical activity, including swimming, and the challenges facing the sector, we are providing over £60 million of support for swimming pools. This will help ensure the long term sustainability of pools, so that children from all backgrounds can continue to access them.Sport England’s Active Lives Survey for Children and Young People collects annual data on the engagement in, and attitudes to, sport and physical activity. The release of the 2022-23 Active Lives data for Children and Young People is scheduled for 7 December.

Charities: Lotteries

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 23 October 2023 to Question 203179 on People's Postcode Lottery, if she will publish a consultation on removing the charity lottery annual sales limits.

Stuart Andrew: As set out in the response to WPQ 203179, the annual sales limits for society lotteries were reviewed 12 months after the reforms were implemented in 2020. The review concluded it was too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of the reforms, and that more data on the growth of the sector was needed before considering any further changes. I therefore have no current plans for a consultation.My officials and I will continue working with the Gambling Commission, as part of its regulatory role, to keep the sector under review.

Hospitality Industry: Music

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the total number of hospitality businesses in England which held The Music Licence and closed in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020, (d) 2021 and (e) 2022.

Sir John Whittingdale: We have made no estimate in relation to businesses holding ‘TheMusicLicence’.The Collective Management Organisations ‘PRS for Music’ and ‘Phonographic Performance Limited’ (PPL), which represent copyright owners in the music sector, are responsible for ‘TheMusicLicence’.

Performing Arts: Travel

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's publication of 11 October 2021 entitled Visa-free short term touring allowed in 20 member states, whether any additional countries offer visa and work permit free routes for UK musicians and performers.

Sir John Whittingdale: The Government is committed to supporting touring artists and the wider music industry to adapt to new arrangements following our departure from the EU, and we have worked with the sector and directly with Member States to provide clarity and support.24 out of 27 Member States, the vast majority, have clarified arrangements to confirm that they allow visa and work permit free routes for UK performers for some short-term touring. This includes most of the UK’s biggest touring markets such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, and it includes Spain and Greece who have introduced easements for third country touring professionals.We continue to engage with the few remaining Member States to improve arrangements or clarify guidance, and we have worked closely on this with the sector. Most recently, we raised the issue of Touring with the EU at the Services Investment and Digital Trade Committee on 9 October. Ultimately however, it is up to Member States to align their requirements more closely with the UK’s generous rules.The Government has also launched an Export Support Service where UK businesses, including touring professionals, can access advice and guidance. We will continue to engage with industry to understand challenges facing the live music sector and options to address these issues.

Drugs: Music Festivals

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people have died as a result of taking illegal drugs at a music festival in each of the last 10 years.

Sir John Whittingdale: We do not hold this information.

Musicians: Pay

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1085 on Musicians: Census, which organisations the Government has invited to be involved in the industry working group to discuss issues around creator remuneration.

Sir John Whittingdale: The working group’s membership is still being considered by the Government, and officials are liaising with key industry representatives to seek their views and input. It will be composed of nominated representatives and experts spanning the breadth of the sector.We intend to publish further details around the working group, including membership, in the near future, once relevant parties have been notified.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Disclosure of Information

Sir Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish her Department's transparency returns for ministers' gifts, hospitality, meetings and travel for April to June and July to September.

Sir John Whittingdale: The timing for the publication of Ministerial Gifts & Hospitality Transparency data is set by the Cabinet Office. The data for Q1 April - June 23 was published on gov.uk on 19 October 2023 and can be found here. The timing for publication of the Q2 July - September 23 data has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected to be published from mid December.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Energy Company Obligation

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many homes received energy efficiency measures through the Energy Company Obligation in the last 12 months.

Graham Stuart: Information on the number of homes that have received measures through the Energy Company Obligation in the last 12 months can be found in Table 1.2 of the latest Household Energy Efficiency Statistics release.

Heat Pumps: Skilled Workers

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made a recent estimate of the number of people who are qualified to fit heat pumps.

Graham Stuart: The Heat Pump Association estimates that over 30,000 additional heat pump installers will be needed by 2028. As of November 2023, there are over 1,700 businesses in the UK certified with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) to install heat pumps; estimated to employ over 7,000 installers. The total number of trained heat pump installers is, however, likely to be greater than this, as MCS Certification is only required for installations receiving Government grant funding. These figures are in line with estimates by the Heat Pump Association of the number of heat pump installers needed for current levels of deployment.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount Scheme.

Amanda Solloway: The Government has reformed the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales to provide more rebates automatically and better target households in fuel poverty, who have low incomes and live in homes that are costly to heat. The Department’s official statistics for winter 2022/23 show that 95% of eligible households received an automatic rebate.A three-year evaluation of the scheme will consider how successful the targeting is and the experience of beneficiaries. In Scotland, low-income working-age households apply to their energy supplier for a rebate, which may set their own eligibility criteria, subject to approval by the scheme administrator, Ofgem.

Energy: Medical Equipment

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support people with motor neurone disease with the cost of energy for medical equipment.

Amanda Solloway: Ministers have recently met with the Motor Neurone Disease Association to discuss this matter. Government is continually reviewing the financial support it provides for the differing energy needs within its communities and prioritising support for the most vulnerable. The Help for Households campaign includes numerous cost-of-living support schemes in 2023/2024, such as the Winter Fuel Payment, Warm Home Discount, Disability Cost of Living Payment and the Cost-of-Living Payment for those on means tested benefits which has increased from up to £650 in 2022/2023 to £900 in 2023/2024. Additionally, the Ofgem energy price cap and Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will continue to work together to protect consumers as the EPG will remain in place as a safety net until March 2024 should wholesale prices increase significantly during this period.

Energy: Social Tariffs

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing an energy social tariff to assist disabled people with energy costs.

Amanda Solloway: As the Government explores possible approaches to consumer protection from 2024, it is working with disability organisations, considering the costs for disabled people and assessing the need for specific support for disabled people using medical equipment in the home. While energy prices are falling our Energy Price Guarantee remains in place to protect people until April next year. The Help for Households campaign includes numerous cost-of-living support schemes in 2023/2024, such as the Winter Fuel Payment, Warm Home Discount, Disability Cost of Living Payment and the Cost-of-Living Payment for those on means tested benefits which has increased from up to £650 in 2022/2023 to £900 in 2023/2024. The Government continues to monitor the situation and will keep options under review, including with respect to the most vulnerable households.

Energy: Prices

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions officials in her Department have had with representatives of charities supporting disabled people with energy costs.

Amanda Solloway: Ministers and Officials in the Department have had numerous discussions with a variety of stakeholders, including charities supporting disabled people, on this very important issue.

Energy: Disability

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support disabled people with the costs of energy bills.

Amanda Solloway: We recognise the cost-of-living challenges families, including those with disabled family members, are facing and in response last winter we launched a package of support for households and businesses, spending £40 billion and paying around half a typical household’s energy bill last winter. Since last winter, the outlook for energy prices has improved significantly. The Q4 2023 price cap of £1,834 has more than halved compared to the Q1 2023 price cap which stood at a high of £4,279. The Energy Price Guarantee will remain in place as a safety net until the end of March 2024, should energy prices increase significantly during this period. Additionally, the Government is providing further cost of living support to vulnerable households, including a £900 payment for those on means-tested benefits and an extra £150 for people on an eligible disability benefit.

Energy: Meters

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the number of households that have been involuntarily fitted with pre-payment meters since October 2022.

Amanda Solloway: The Government does not hold this data. The Government has always been clear on the importance of protecting energy consumers, particularly the most vulnerable. Ofgem has been clear that suppliers will not be able to resume involuntary installations of prepayment meters (PPM) until they have amongst other things showed readiness to comply with Ofgem’s new rules regarding involuntary PPM installations and demonstrated progress through an independent audit to identify wrongly installed meters and provide redress where appropriate.

Energy: Meters

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the number of households that have (a) had pre-payment meters removed and (b) received compensation due to the involuntary installation of pre-payment meters since February 2023.

Amanda Solloway: The Government does not hold this data. The Government has always been clear on the importance of protecting energy consumers, particularly the most vulnerable. Ofgem has been clear that suppliers will not be able to resume involuntary installations of prepayment meters (PPM) until they have amongst other things showed readiness to comply with Ofgem’s new rules regarding involuntary PPM installations and demonstrated progress through an independent audit to identify wrongly installed meters and provide redress where appropriate.

Northern Ireland Office

Retail Trade: Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what information his Department holds on the number of incidents of violence against shop workers in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Mr Steve Baker: The Department does not hold this information. Following the devolution of policing and justice in April 2010, the majority of statutory functions relating to justice matters were transferred to the Department of Justice. Due to the current political situation in Northern Ireland, there is no Justice Minister currently in place. In the absence of a Minister, responsibility for Department of Justice matters sits with the Permanent Under Secretary of the Department of Justice to whom the Honourable Member may wish to write to on this matter.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will hold discussions with the Northern Ireland Chief Constable on police funding.

Chris Heaton-Harris: I and my Ministers meet regularly with the PSNI to discuss a range of issues, in recognition of the Government’s commitment to the safety and security of the people of Northern Ireland. I most recently met the Chief Constable on his second day in office to emphasise my support for the PSNI and my confidence in its new leadership. Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the PSNI’s main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant. We also provide the PSNI with £32 million in additional security funding to address the SEVERE threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism. This ensures PSNI’s ability to tackle the terrorist threat while ensuring day-to-day policing is not compromised.

Northern Ireland Office: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The following table includes the number of lost or stolen devices in the Northern Ireland Office in the last year. LostStolenCost of ReplacingLaptops02£2,750Mobile Phones31£2,496Memory Sticks00n/aExternal Hard Drives00n/aAll departmental IT is fully security encrypted. The departmental security unit records and investigates each reported loss from the Department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries. Any mobile device reported as lost is immediately and remotely deactivated and the contents deleted. The user account on any laptop reported as lost is immediately and remotely locked.There has been no data loss or compromises as a result of these losses.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Property Development: Floods

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will require local authorities to give greater weight to the risk of local flooding before granting of planning permission for (a) housebuilding and (b) other future developments.

Lee Rowley: The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that all sources of flood risk need to be considered, including future flood risk, to ensure that any new development is safe for its lifetime without increasing the risk of flooding elsewhere. The Framework sets out strict tests on flood risk which are in place to protect people and property. Where they are not met, it is clear that local authorities should not be permitting new development.

Construction: Vacancies

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of additional construction workers which are likely to be needed to meet his Department's housebuilding targets over the next three years.

Lee Rowley: The Construction Industry Training Board estimated earlier this year that an additional 224,900 extra workers will be needed to meet UK construction demand between 2023 and 2027.

Housing: Standards

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to publish the consultation on the development of the Future Homes Standard before the Christmas recess.

Lee Rowley: Announcements will be made in the usual way.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Catering

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to support the provision of a nutritionally balanced plant-based meals on menus for staff in his Department.

Jacob Young: DLUHC offices are managed by the Government Property Agency.

Freeports: Infrastructure

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has issued guidance on responsibility for (a) upgrading and (b) enhancing port infrastructure in freeports.

Jacob Young: Decisions regarding port infrastructure enhancement primarily lie with port operators, who will determine what is needed on a commercial and operational basis In terms of guidance, the Department for Transport publishes three core documents to support the ports sector: the Port Marine Safety Code, last updated in 2016 (with an update due in early 2024), the Guide to Good Practice on Port Marine Operations, last updated in 2018 (with an update due in mid-2024), and the Ports Good Governance Guide, last published in 2018. None of these documents are statutory. It should also be noted that port policy is devolved.Freeports benefit from a comprehensive package of government funding and incentives, which can be strategically used in those areas, to upgrade local infrastructure, to foster economic growth and competitiveness, including for port operators involved in a Freeport. Decisions on how or what to upgrade in terms of individual Freeports, will be taken by the Freeport and relevant partners.

Letting Agents: Regulation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to further regulate services provided to leaseholders by management agencies.

Lee Rowley: The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill announced in the King’s Speech will make it easier for leaseholders to scrutinise costs and challenge the services provided by both freeholders and property managing agents. The Bill will also make it easier for leaseholders to take on management of their buildings themselves where they can directly appoint or replace agents.

Housing: Energy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has provided recent guidance to local authorities on encouraging homeowners in conservation areas to (a) improve the energy-efficiency of their homes through retrofitting and (b) maintain the character of their properties.

Lee Rowley: The Government is fully committed to encouraging homeowners to incorporate energy efficiency measures in their properties in order to tackle climate change. Historic England, the Government’s adviser on heritage matters, publishes a range of advice on installing energy efficiency measures in historic buildings.The Government has also recently undertaken a review of the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures such as improved glazing, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. An announcement on the outcome of the review will be made in due course.

Planning: Inquiries

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many outstanding planning decisions that have been the subject of a public planning inquiry are awaiting final decision by him as of 13 November 2023.

Lee Rowley: As of 13 November 2023, there were 14 planning decisions that have been the subject of a public planning inquiry and are with the Department for consideration. All will lead to decisions taken by Ministers.

Housing: Planning Permission

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the his department's publication Consultation outcome to Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, updated 21 September 2023, when he plans to update the National Planning Policy Framework to introduce new flexibilities to meet housing needs.

Lee Rowley: As set out previously, our formal response to the remaining proposals in the consultation, including those on meeting housing needs, will be published later in 2023.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Iron and Steel: Pollution

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of lead emissions from iron and steel production in the last 12 months.

Robbie Moore: Iron and steel installations in England are regulated under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. All large industrial facilities must comply with environmental permits, use best available techniques (BAT) to reduce emissions to air, water and land, and monitor and report their emissions. The data submitted by operators is published on the UK Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR). Data from 2022, including lead emissions from iron and steel sites, will be published in December 2023. The National Atmospheric Emission Inventory estimates total lead emissions from these industries. Data for 2023 will be published in February 2025.

Food: Imports

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Common User Charge proposal on trends in the level of food imports at Portsmouth International Port.

Mark Spencer: Defra is analysing the responses to the 'Charging arrangements at government-run border control posts' consultation and carefully assessing potential impacts on food imports. This will ensure we implement a charging system that will deliver best value for traders, and one that meets the Government’s cost recovery objectives in as transparent and fair way as possible. We expect to publish a summary of the responses and an update on the Common User Charge proposal shortly.

Forests

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to bring forward secondary legislation under the Environment Act 2021 to require businesses to ensure that their supply chains do not contribute to deforestation.

Robbie Moore: The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We ran a consultation from 3 December 2021 to 11 March 2022 to seek views on the details of regulations that will implement the Environment Act provisions, to ensure that these are designed effectively. The Government published a summary of responses to this consultation on 1 June 2022 and is committed to implementing due diligence provisions at the earliest opportunity through secondary legislation.

Forests: Developing Countries

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to take steps with Cabinet colleagues to provide support to smallholder farmers in developing countries to meet the legal requirement to not contribute to deforestation under the Environment Act 2021.

Robbie Moore: The UK plays a leading role in supporting global efforts to protect and restore forest landscapes, driving international action to tackle deforestation and ensure forests are sustainably managed. This effort is underpinned by a commitment of £1.5 billion to international forests between 2021 and 2026.The Government works with both businesses and smallholder farmers to improve sustainable practices and encourage forest-friendly business. The Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use programme (2015-2024) supports the development of new business models which provide jobs and livelihoods while protecting and restoring forests. The programme is implemented through a set of complementary interventions including Partnerships for Forests (P4F) (£120 million), which provides grant funding and technical assistance to catalyse investment into sustainable agriculture and forest management. To date, P4F has mobilised £1.25 billion in private investment into forests, brought 4.5 million hectares of land under sustainable management and directly benefitted over 250,000 people.The UK’s Mobilising Finance for Forests programme is working to increase private investment in activities that create value from standing forests and/or incorporate forest protection and restoration into sustainable agricultural commodity production. This programme is complementary to P4F, targeting larger and more mature opportunities that will mobilise investment into sustainable land-use at scale.The UK also supports companies in their transition to sustainable supply chains. The UK is a co-funder of the Tropical Forest Alliance, a public-private initiative hosted by the World Economic Forum which mobilises over 170 companies, governments and NGOs to tackle commodity-driven deforestation.We also continue to work with consumer and producer country partners in forums such as the Forest, Agriculture, and Commodity and Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which the UK and Indonesia launched together as co-chairs in 2021. The FACT Dialogue convenes 28 major producers and consumers of internationally traded agricultural commodities to agree principles for collaboration and developed a Roadmap of actions which was launched at COP26, to protect forests and other ecosystems while promoting sustainable trade and development, in a way that respects all countries’ interests.

Cats: Smuggling

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce cat and kitten smuggling from overseas.

Robbie Moore: Criminal offences already exist for cats and kittens brought into this country in breach of current import requirements. In autumn 2021 we consulted on further proposed changes to the rules governing the commercial and non-commercial movement of cats, dogs and ferrets into Great Britain. The consultation sought views on whether maintaining the existing requirements in relation to cats was the right approach. We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders in the animal welfare sector, including Cats Protection, and a summary will be published in due course.

Dangerous Dogs

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on American Bully XL dogs on the dog rehoming sector.

Robbie Moore: Defra has worked closely with stakeholders including rescue and rehoming centres to consider the impacts of banning XL Bully dogs. The activity of rehoming an XL Bully will be prohibited after 31 December 2023, in accordance with the range of restrictions required under Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Seed Potatoes: Exports

Richard Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had (a) with the European Union and (b) at the Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures on the resumption of exports of seed potatoes.

Mark Spencer: The Government has consistently raised this issue with the European Commission, including most recently at the third TCA Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on 11 October 2023. We remain committed to finding a solution that will allow a resumption in trade in seed potatoes between Great Britain and the European Union.

Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 12.1 of the explanatory memorandum to The Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023, how her Department estimated the cost to businesses, charities and voluntary bodies of those regulations.

Robbie Moore: The cost estimates referred to in the Explanatory Memorandum to The Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023 were developed using evidence and data collated from a range of sources including animal welfare charities, and other key stakeholders.

Cats: Coronavirus

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues to pet owners about feline coronavirus.

Robbie Moore: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 November 2023 to the hon. Member for East Londonderry, PQ 1464.

Urban Areas: Carbon Emissions

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the UN Environment Programme on which UK cities have expressed an interest in the Cool Coalition’s Nature for Cool Cities Challenge.

Robbie Moore: The former Secretary of State had not held any recent discussions with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on the Cool Coalition’s Nature for Cool Cities Challenge. However, the UK is actively involved in many of the UN Environment Programme's workstreams and has a strong relationship with the organisation. I look forward to building on this relationship and continuing to support the vital work of UNEP in the coming months.

Bluetongue Disease

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential risks posed by the recently identified case of Bluetongue disease.

Mark Spencer: The risk of BTV entry into Great Britain is currently assessed as medium (event occurs regularly). These assessments are published on the ‘Animal diseases: international and UK monitoring’ collection on Gov.uk. Following the confirmed case in a single animal in Kent, epidemiological assessments will be undertaken to inform surveillance and disease control options.

Hunting: Foxes

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the impact of the Hunting Act 2004 on levels of fox hunting.

Robbie Moore: Defra does not hold this data. The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police. Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law.

Packaging: Recycling

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential cumulative impact on businesses and consumers of the planned implementation of (a) a deposit return scheme, (b) an extended producer responsibility scheme and (c) other changes to packaging recovery notes.

Rebecca Pow: A cumulative assessment of the impact of the Collection and Packaging Reforms was published in 2021 at consultation stage: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/consistency-in-household-and-business-recycling/supporting_documents/Collection%20and%20packaging%20reforms%20summary%20of%20impacts.pdf .

Deposit Return Schemes: Costs

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme on costs for (a) businesses and (b) consumers.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme on costs for the drinks industry.

Rebecca Pow: Defra has assessed costs and benefits of a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers (DRS) through the DRS impact assessment. Defra published the first impact assessment on DRS in 2019 and a subsequent update to the consultation analysis with a further iteration to the consultation impact assessment was published in 2021. The 2021 consultation impact assessment can be found at: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/consultation-on-introducing-a-drs/supporting_documents/Impact%20Assessment.pdf A final Impact Assessment will be published in alignment with the next phase of the DRS work to allow us to update the analysis to accurately reflect what is set out in the January 2023 government response and the legislation drafting with the most recent data available. We recognise that the introduction of a DRS is a new undertaking for industry, and with the continued pressures facing consumers and businesses every day, the impact of change is not to be underestimated. We are committed to continuing engagement and working collaboratively with industry to deliver a cost effective, well-functioning scheme.

Water Supply: Bedfordshire

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the affordability of water bills in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency and (b) Bedfordshire.

Rebecca Pow: Ofwat assesses affordability for each water company through a 5 yearly process called the Price Review. As part of this process, water companies must set out in their business plans how they will address affordability and outline their support measures for households that are struggling to pay, or who are at risk of struggling to pay. As set out in our Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, we expect water companies to improve the availability, quality, and uptake of support to low income and other vulnerable household customers. All water companies offer reduced bills for eligible customers via the WaterSure scheme and social tariffs, as well as a range of other financial support measures such as payment holidays, bill matching and advice on debt management and water efficiency. The Government expects water companies to continue to actively engage with households and inform them of support measures available.

Animal Welfare: Registration

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to establish an offenders' registry for the perpetrators of animal cruelty.

Robbie Moore: The Police National Computer holds all relevant information for prosecutions made for animal cruelty offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and the police may be approached by anyone who has concerns about whether someone should be keeping animals. The Department currently has no plans to establish a public offenders' registry for animal cruelty offences.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last 12 months.

Fay Jones: The Wales Office has reported no lost or stolen items listed in the question over the last 12 months.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Theft

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last 12 months.

Mr Alister Jack: The Scotland Office uses the information technology system provided and operated by the Cabinet Office, which has responsibility for all hardware and software procurement, administration, support maintenance, security, and integrity of the system. The Cabinet Office response to this question includes any losses reported by the Scotland Office.